#is no one else thirsty for data posts?

[jackisensal]

AUTHOR DATA DROP: It took over 58 hours to write and edit Stolen Kisses. This doesn't include blurb work, formatting, admin, marketing, content posts, and all the other stuff a book entails. I only clock writing and editing to maintain a little bit of sanity (and because I'm a freak for data posts haha). Whew! It's been a blast—there was a little snufugle toward the start when I switched from one POV to dual POV, but it was worth it. Looking back, I can't imagine the story without Anya's side. Or her sassy thoughts, she's fun to write.

I can't wait to share the polished version of this wild and steamy sapphic ride with you in 4 days 😀 STOLEN KISSES releases on February 24th, 2025.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 28

(Master post)

Thank you @galaxy-and-star-collector for your support.

I am bring this fic out early.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Alya, you know I think you are awesome and I respect you. But I have to ask why are we heading to our school on a Sunday?” The DJ questioned as they approached Françoise Dupont High.

“We need some more dirt on Lila, and I have a feeling that we can get it from here.” The ladyblogger explained. “I know it sounds farfetched but there must be something that shows her guilt that she can’t possibly argue.”

The two approach the steps to the front entrance of the school.

“Even if there is more proof, the school is probably locked. There is no way we can….”

Alya opens the front door with no issue.

“Ah… well never mind then.”

The two enter the school and notice how empty the hallways feel without it filled with students.

“Alright, we should check out her locker.”

“Wait, didn’t you get in trouble for going through Chloé’s locker last time? With Lila having the school wrapped around her finger, this might ruin our plan.”

Alya stopped and pondered the statement. She hated to admit it, but Nino was right.

“Crap. That was my main way of getting proof.” Alya stomped in frustration.

“Well it isn’t like they would be able to prove it was you that broke in since the security cameras here suck.”

Alya stopped.

“Security cams? This place has security Cameras!?”

“Well yea. But they were set up poorly, only some of the ones in the main hallways work. That’s why Damocles doesn’t rely on them. I forgot you started coming here around the same time as Adrien, so you wouldn’t know about that.”

“Huh, Shot in the dark. Maybe we can check any footage the cameras have?”

“I mean, it’s worth a shot. Though I am pretty sure its a dead end.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Marinette was sitting outside the ice rink, her skates off, she felt like she was melting.

She and Adrien had decided that was enough skating for the day. The routine took a lot out of them. Adrien offered to get them both some water.

She was not expecting to have such an intense skating moment with Adrien. It felt amazing, incredible, and so right.

It felt right trusting Adrien like this, it felt so unbelievably natural to do what she did. She loved the feeling of being held by him, holding his hand as they danced on the ice. She felt so in sync with him.

Just like with my Chat noir.

The thought sucker punched her. Chat noir was once again crawling into her headspace. She wanted to stop having thoughts like that about Adrien.

The first part of her reasoning was because she didn’t want to be comparing Adrien to another boy, or Chat noir to Adrien. It wasn’t fair to either of them.

The second part was because she didn’t want to force the feelings and emotions, she feels for Adrien onto chat noir, it will only make things more complicated and messier.

The last bit was the part that she was surprised to admit her but also did not question.

Because I don’t want to be disappointed when Adrien isn’t Chat noir.

Marinette thought about it before, with Alya’s jokes on the matter, and that whole music video thing with Clara Nightingale, how can she not imagine it sometimes?

How lucky would she be having Adrien be her partner in fighting crime? Her most trusted partner and the boy she was in love with being the same person. Knowing Adrien was her goofy lovable cat partner would certainly make it a lot easier to talk with him. The chances of that happening however, were astronomical. Not even Ladybug is that lucky.

“No one is that Lucky...” She sighed

“Who isn’t lucky?”

Marinette nearly fell back after hearing the sudden question. She jolted to look at Adrien who was holding two water bottles.

Adrien took a bit longer getting the water bottles then he should have because he was trying to see if he could find that old man that he swore was Master Fu. Sadly, he couldn’t find the old man, and decided to cut his losses and get back to Marinette.

“Nothing! Just surprised how we were the only ones here skating today.”

Adrien moved his hand out to her, holding the bottle.

“I thought you might be thirsty.”

Marinette took a moment to notice the boy had removed his outer shirt and she could see his fore arms. She couldn’t help but notice he looked a bit more pumped up then before.

“You could say that.” Marinette takes the bottle. “Thank you.”

Adrien sits down beside her. She takes a couple of sips from her bottle. The cool water was very welcome to her parched throat.

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up with how close he was. Watching him open the bottle and take a swig.

After the swig he sighed with a refreshed smile.

“That was a lot of fun. I didn’t think we would go so far with that.” The blond commented.

“Y-yea. It was unexpected with the spotlight.”

“I wonder if Philippe set that up?”

“He is probably gonna try signing us up for lessons.”

Adrien nodded knowing the man really wants to get students.

“Well I am not sure about lessons; I do think we should do that again… not today. That took a lot of energy.”

Marinette giggled at the comment.

“I would like that.”

Adrien looked at her and grinned. He could swear there must be something in the air, because Marinette looked so incredible. Even with her hair a bit ruffled from the skating. She looked so incredible to him.

“So, Marinette, what else is on the Agenda for today?”

Marinette took some water as she checked the time on her phone. She does a shocking spit take.

“Oh crap! The sunset!”

“The Sunset?”

“We need to go! If we want to get to the last place we need to hurry now!” Marinette said as she was grabbing all of her stuff in a Marinette-esque panic which the Blond couldn’t help but find cute.

“I will make sure our ride is ready.”

Adrien looked to his bodyguard who as if he could read Adrien’s thoughts, moved from his spot to go get the car.

“I swear I think he can read minds sometimes.”

“That must make it hard for you to sneak out.”

“As long as he doesn’t see me when I do, its no big issue.”

“So, Marinette, where is this place you want to end our wonderful day together.”

Marinette felt her face heat up.

“O-Oh! Its a surprise.”

Adrien smiled.

“Sounds like it will be fun.”

_______________________________________________________________________

“Who the hell is in charge of this area? This place is a dump!” Alya shouted in frustration.

Nino took Alya to the small surveillance room that was near the office. It was a room maybe half the size of the Principles office. The room had a bunch of dusty monitors, most of which were off. it looked like people haven’t been in the room in months. The door was initially locked, but Alya was able to pick the lock to get them in. Thankfully the area they were at, the security camera didn’t work so they didn’t need to worry about being filmed.

“Yea, no one really. I think Mr. Damocles handles it, but ever since he became the owl hero. he never comes in here.”

Alya wipes dust off the few working monitors.

“Okay, well at least some of these cameras work.”

Alya began trying to dig into the data in the outdated security monitors.

“It seems it has recordings going as far back as a few days before Lila came back to school. I guess that was the last time Damocles bothered to check the tapes. I guess it will have to do.”

Nino pulled a chair for Alya to sit on.

“No need to work standing.”

Alya give Nino a peck on the cheek.

“You are sweet. Now watch outside in case anyone is coming. I will check if there is anything here, and after that we can leave.”

Nino nods.

“No worries, I got ya covered.”

Nino moved to outside the door while Alya got to work.

“Let’s see if there is anything worth investigating.”

_____________________________________________________________________

“I am sorry but the elevators are under maintenance.” a woman at the desk informed the two teens in front of her.

“What? But they were fine this morning when I called to check.” The dark-haired teen exclaimed in disbelief.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. But it will likely be another hour or two before the elevator is ready.”

The blond teen next to her put a hand on her shoulder.

“Its alright Marinette. we can take the stairs.” The Blond assured.

Marinette sighed.

“Yes but… by the time we get up there…” Marinette tried to explain.

She had planned that Adrien and her were at the top of the tower just as the sun was setting. The amazing view would have been perfect to set the scene for her confession. Marinette had planned the day out perfectly, and now, with the last and most crucial step in her plan out of commission, it felt like tripping right at the finish line of a race.

Marinette turned to the woman.

“Thank you for your help.”

Marinette and Adrien moved away from the main desk.

“I really liked your idea. Going to the Eiffel Tower to see the view of the sunset. I appreciate you going to such lengths for this wonderful day together.” Adrien comforted.

Marinette smiled a bit.

“I am glad you enjoyed it, but I really wish we could watch the sunset from up there.”

Adrien could see it in her eyes. She really wanted to catch that amazing view. And despite Adrien’s best efforts, there was no way he could do it. However, he did happen to know a super hero that might.

“One moment Marinette,” Adrien grabbed his phone and checks it.

“My father messaged me. I am going to go give him a call. Can you wait here for a little bit?”

“Oh… okay.”

Adrien kept a smile as he ran off to go talk with his dad.

“Must be a private issue.” Marinette commented.

Marinette sighed as she looked up at the Eiffel Tower. Even if she sprinted. There was no way she could get up 704 flights of stairs before sunset. Even if she did, she would be all sweaty and be exhausted for the big moment.

“Don’t worry Marinette. I am sure Adrien still had a wonderful time on your date.” a voice whispered to her from her bag. Marinette looked down at her bag to address her magical companion.

“I appreciate your kind words Tikki. But I really thought this was my big chance to confess.”

“I am sure that the opportunity will present itself. You just need to have a little hope.” The ladybug Kwami assured before closing her bag.

Marinette took a moment to notice the sun was a few minutes away from sunset, Adrien was likely going to be talking with his father until the moment ends and the day ends.

“So much for the perfect day.” Marinette comments to herself.

“Au contraire, Princess”

Marinette turned to see a smirking Black clad hero.

“Chat noir?”

“I happened to be in the neighborhood patrolling the area, and I noticed you took my advice trying to come here for the big finale.” Chat noir smirked. “I really do have impeccable taste if I do say so myself.”

Marinette smiled a bit at the Cat’s bragging.

“Yea, it was good advice. However, it seems that will be an impossibility. The Elevator to the top is undergoing Maintenance and there is no way Adrien and I can get up there before the sunset is finished.”

“Oh, what a shame. If only you had a super hero that could get you both up there in a shake of a tail.” Chat noir dramatically exclaimed. His tail flicking as he mentioned his ‘Tail’

Marinette’s eyes went wide.

“Chat are you…”

“Consider me your personal Wing-cat.” Chat noir winked.

Marinette felt her heart pound.

Once again, chat noir was helping her out. Helping her set up a moment that could mean the end of any chance of the cat being with Ladybug. And he didn’t know it.

“You are a really amazing guy Chat noir.” Marinette spoke softly.

The words were like an arrow to his heart. Marinette has so much pull on his heartstrings and she had no idea.

Chat noir took out his staff and placed it firmly on the ground.

“The express Elevator is open. I will get your Prince up here after you are safely up.”

Marinette moved towards the cat and wrapped her arms around him for safety. The cat wrapped an arm around her waist.

“You might want to hold on to your beret.” Chat noir commented.

Marinette took his advice and removed her hat and held on to it.

In a moment, the two began to ascend high into the sky.

Within a minute, Marinette was at the top level of the Famous monument.

Chat noir moved to help get them both safely on the floor.

“Alright, now to fetch the Prince. Close your eyes Princess.” Chat noir stated.

Just before moving, Marinette caught his hand.

The cat hero paused.

“Chat noir.” Her voice as soft as a violin.

The cat looked at the designer. His eyes go wide as the wind bellows and moves her hair back slightly. The light of the sun hitting her to make her appear with an ethereal glow.

“You deserve to be happy.”

Chat noir felt his cocky grin shift to a soft sincere smile.

“I already am Marinette. Happier than I have been in a very long time”

Chat noir could swear he saw a tear stream down her face.

“Marinette?”

She hugged him

He was surprised by the sudden motion, but held her close.

“I am so sorry.”

Chat noir was confused by what the girl could possibly be apologizing for. She hadn’t done anything to hurt him, in fact he was the one that turned her down back then. He was the jerk. What could she… did she feel guilty about going on this date with his other self? Did she feel like that it made her feelings less valid? No, he had to correct this.

“Its okay Marinette. You don’t need to be hung up on me. You deserve to be happy. ”

Marinette wanted more then anything to tell him. She wanted to tell him that the girl he was helping with her date was the very girl he said he was in love with. She wanted to tell him how much of an amazing human being he was, how he was her trusted partner, how he was an amazing friend, and how he was someone she loved dearly.

Yes, she knew it. She knew it deep in her heart. She loved Chat noir. She had known this since the day he comforted her when Hawkmoth first appeared.

Sure, he seemed like flirt at first, and she assumed that his feelings were not serious until his confession. It hurt her so much to turn him down that day, but she was in love with Adrien. But that didn’t mean she didn’t care about his feelings.

Marinette wasn’t sure what type of love she felt for chat noir, she just knew she cared about him, and wanted him to be happy. He deserved better than her, he just didn’t see it. She swore that after this, she would find him a girl that was worthy of him.

Marinette let go of the hug.

“Ladybug is dumb for not falling for you.” Marinette told him.

Chat noir shook his head. The words didn’t sting like they once would have.

“She might have dodged a bullet. I shed.”

Marinette laughs at the joke.

“Alright Princess. I should hurry and get your Prince up here.”

Chat noir quickly ran off and jumped off the building.

Marinette rushed to the edge of the railing and looked down. She noticed the cat was out of sight.

Thank you chat… you don’t know how much better you deserve.

_______________________________________________________________________

Nino rested his back on a locker that was right next to the door to the monitor room.

He kept an eye out as he waited for his investigative reporter girlfriend to find what she was looking for in that security camera footage.

He went into his bag and pulled out a bottle of bubble soap.

“Just a few blows to steady the nerves.” He said to himself.

He opened the cap of the bottle to reveal a bubble want inside. He dunked the wand a few times before blowing a few bubbles.

It had been a while since he had done this. He always kept the soap on him. His little brother always loved popping bubbles. But now a days Chris said Bubbles were for Babies. Nino never really understood where his baby bro was coming from. Bubbles were awesome.

Though he had to admit that he hadn’t done this recently, the whole fiasco with him being a bubble themed Akuma really soured the experience for a while. He hated to admit how much that day had an effect on him.

He blew a few more bubbles into the air and watched as they floated in the hallway.

Nino wanted to give Hawkmoth a punch in the face for making him stay away from one of his favorite stress relievers. He remembers how he did chuck his shield at the butterfly man back when he was Carapace. That thought did make him smile.

“Heh, Nice.”

Nino was about to blow another set of bubbles when Alya burst through the door. The surprise cause Nino to lose grip of his bubble soap resulting in it spilling on the floor.

“Nino! You have to see this!”

Nino turned to his girlfriend.

“What happened?”

Alya looked at the area and noticed the spilled soap.

“Were you blowing bubbles? I thought you said you didn’t do that after the whole bubbler incident?” Alya inquired.

“I decided to bring it back again. So what were you bursting through doors about?”

Alya took a moment to recollect her sudden outburst.

“Come in here.”

The DJ shrugged and moved inside the Security room.

“You found something?”

“See for yourself.” Alya answered.

The hat wearing teen looked closely at the screen as he saw a figure that looked like an akuma fluttering on Camera.

“Is that an Akuma!”

“Keep watching.”

Nino continued watching as the butterfly seemed to be fluttering aimlessly.

“Weird, guess it doesn’t have anyone to Akumatize… wait is that…”

Lila appeared in view of the camera, moving towards the Akuma.

Nino watched in utter shock as the girl purposefully accepted the Akuma.

“No fucking way…”

______________________________________________________________________

Marinette stared out on the balcony on top of the Eiffel tower. When she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Marinette turned to see Adrien, smiling at her.

“Seems you had a back up plan for getting us up here.” Adrien joked.

“I didn’t plan it. We really lucked out.” Marinette exclaimed. “Chat noir is a really good person.”

Adrien felt his cheeks burn at the compliment that she was unaware she gave him.

“Wow, the sunset really is amazing from up here.” He changed the subject.

Marinette moved to look in the direction of the setting sun. From the top of the tower, she could see all of Paris bathing in the magnificent light of the dimming star. The sky was a plethora of colors as the main light source of the day was drifting to slumber in Paris.

Adrien moved to her side. He moved his hand to hers, touching her hand with his.

Marinette looked at him for a brief moment, he looked at her, smiling nervously. She could tell he in that instant that he was just as nervous as she was. It made her feel a bit at ease. She accepted his hand in hers.

The two turned back to looking at the sky with wonder.

Marinette felt her heart in her chest.

Alright Marinette… its now or never.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Okay, time to set everything up.” the brunette said with a sinister smile.

She had easily made her way into the empty school. The front door was not locked, Lila mentally noted how much of a safety violation that probably was. Its like the place was begging to get robbed. Though the more likely reason was that there might be someone already inside.

She was careful to not make a sound, just in case her theory was correct, though it was likely some Janitor doing some late-night cleaning.

Lila quietly moved to the locker area. She stealthily moved and opened every locker that belonged to someone in her class, making sure to take some sort of valuable. Before methodically closing it.

She made sure to locate Marinette’s locker.

“Perfect.” The manipulative liar whispered as she began picking the lock. It was tougher then the others, the lock was slightly different. Her lock was newer, something must have happened to her old locker sometime before Lila had arrived that resulted in a new lock being put in.

It took a few minutes to open the locker but sure enough it did.

Lila made sure to cautiously put the stolen goods in the girl’s locker, including her necklace, putting it in a way that would ensure the contents fell out next time the designer opened it.

“Phase one complete. Now for phase two.”

Lila made her way to her homeroom class.

Lila had initially planned on framing Marinette for cheating on an exam. But that was too unbelievable. But having her sabotage Chloé? That would be something far more believable.

Lila had snagged one of Marinette’s spare hair scrunchies from the locker, putting it under Chloe’s seat. Lila loosened a few of the bolts on the mayor’s daughter’s seat.

Lila had a third surprise, but that would be saved for Monday. She wanted to be there the moment her final piece appeared, resulting in that pigtailed brat’s expulsion.

Lila made her way out of the classroom, when she suddenly heard footsteps.

Shit! Someone is coming! I need to hide!

Lila looked around and noticed another door and quickly ran to that door and closed it.

Hoping no one would check.

She ducked down and listened for the footsteps to go away. But as she sudden motion caused her to knock over a broom which had the handle smack her head.

She muffled her yelp of pain with her hand. She made the realization that of all the places she picked to hide, she picked a Janitor’s closet.

She decided to ignore that irony while she put her ear to the door to listen to the footsteps.

“I think we got everything we needed.”

“Yea, I still can’t believe what we found. This is so much worse than we realized.”

Lila recognized the voices. It was Alya and Nino! What were they doing here?

If they go to the locker area and notice what she was up to, her plan could be ruined!

“So, are we good for tonight then?”

“Yea? I think we got everything for tomorrow. Marinette and Adrien will definitely be surprised.”

Tomorrow? What could possibly be tomorrow? They are probably planning something for the two ‘Love birds’ Lila rolled her eyes. Too bad their plan will be going up in smoke once I am through with Marinette

Lila couldn’t hear their words or their footsteps. She waited another minute before moving. She carefully stood up as to avoid getting another bump on the head.

She opened the door, but forgot about the broom she knocked over. her first step out of the closet resulted in her tripping and smacking her nose right on the floor.

Lila bit her tongue to avoid screaming.

She really hated Janitor’s Closets.

_______________________________________________________________________

Part 28 is complete and The Day is coming to an end. Will Marinette be able to confess her feelings. What will Alya and Nino’s new discovery help bring to Light Lila’s misdeeds? Or Will Lila’s own scheming result in 

Thank you guys so much for all of the love and support for the fic.  I hope you all still love it and I hope to keep things ready for you. Please keep commenting, I love hearing your thoughts. Also, please share the fic around, its hard for everyone to see it on Tumblr.

I absolutely adore seeing those notes and comments,  I will do my best with Tagging in the future, but I really wasn’t able to set up any new ones at this time either and I apologize. I will do my best to include them in the future.

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[higuchimon]

[fanfic] In The Arms of Love:  Chapter 3

Yuusaku shifted underneath the blanket, not quite able to get himself comfortable. He hated to admit that he was a little chilly even with his blanket; there were drafts, of course, because his apartment had four separate drafts, and one of them kept chill air blowing into his room whenever it gusted outside.

That was one of the reasons he preferred Link Vrains. There weren’t drafts there. He could stay warm there. But here, even tucked under the blanket, he heard the sighing of the wind.

He’d get to sleep sooner or later. He always did. But he would have far preferred it to be sooner. He had put in a lot of effort in Link Vrains and he was worn out.

Part of that effort involved everything that happened with Ai when they’d been in Vrains as well. That little thing Ai did trapping them so they could hug.

Truth to tell, Yuusaku thought he wasn’t quite as upset about that now. Ai meant well. Ai needed a lot of lessons on how to human properly and how it was kind of rude to trap someone like that, but Yuusaku hoped he’d learned that now.

But while he hoped, he couldn’t entirely convince himself of that.

A presence settled next to him. He didn’t even look up. He knew who it was.

“What are you doing here, Ai?”

“You’re not asleep,” Ai murmured. “It’s late. You should be.”

This wasn’t even close to the first time he’d spent a sleepless night. He’d sometimes gone as much as three days without sleep, pushing through on caffeine and sheer stubbornness. But since Ai took up living with him, Ai had formed Opinions on how often Yuusaku should get his nightly eight hours.

“I’m fine,” Yuusaku muttered, keeping his eyes tightly closed. “Stop talking to me and I’ll be asleep in no time.”

He wasn’t sure of how to describe the noise that Ai made but it sounded something on the order of idiot. It wasn’t the first time at all that Ai had called him that. He cracked one eyebrow to see Ai looking down at him.

At this hour it was too dark to see Ai very clearly but enough starlight leaked in through the window for Yuusaku to get a sense of the shape and form there. Not to mention that no one but Ai would be there.

He really wanted to go to sleep. But Ai was there and - Ai was holding something?

Yuusaku sat up more, frowning. “What are you holding?” He blinked, trying to get his vision to focus. Being in the dark didn’t make it easier. But he saw it finally – two cups of steaming hot tea

“I brought you tea. It’s green tea. It helps you sleep!” Ai was perky. Yuusaku had never been fond of perky, especially at this hour when he really wanted to be asleep.

“Why are there two cups?” Yuusaku wanted to know, getting himself sorted out so he could accept one of the cups. He wasn’t really thirsty but he thought perhaps the tea wouldn’t hurt.

He also wondered exactly how Ai had gotten hold of the tea in the first place. He didn’t have any of that here.

“Because I’m going to have it with you,” Ai promised, crossing his legs and leaning against Yuusaku.

Yuusaku frowned. “I didn’t know you could drink actual tea.” Despite how human he looked, Ai was still a Soltis and that meant he didn’t actually need to eat.

“I have a way to process it,” Ai told him, just a smidge too cheerfully. “I’ll have to get rid of it later, of course. Just like you will.”

Yuusaku decided then and there that he didn’t really want to know any further details. The mechanical details, maybe, but not the specific other details.

The cup sat warm in his hands, and he breathed in rich green tea scent for a long moment before he carefully started to sip it.

“You’re going to have to thank Roboppy for the tea,” Ai said, sipping at his own cup. “They made it for you. But it was my idea.”

Of course it was. Yuusaku wouldn’t have thought anything else. He glanced up long enough to see Roboppy peeking in the door and managed to offer a small smile. He’d been more than a little surprised to find a way to recover Roboppy, but he knew how that happened. Ai and Roboppy made a backup of the housebot’s data before everything fell apart all those months earlier. All that had been required was a proper casing to download it into. Roboppy lost a few memories but still remained the adorable friend that Yuusaku had always known.

And Roboppy still enjoyed doing things for him, such as cleaning and making meals that weren’t actually hot dogs. Yuusaku had to wonder if he should try to get a better place for them all to live, just so Roboppy had more room to work with. Not that there had ever been any complaints. But he thought about it regardless.

Yuusaku wasn’t surprised to find Ai’s arm going around him again. Ai made it plain there would be plenty of hugs in the future. It wasn’t that horrible of a thought. Ai hugging him was actually rather pleasant.

He’d never thought about being hugged in his own bed, though. He knew that this kind of thing – and a lot more – happened, but he’d never thought about it happening to him, let alone it being Ai who did it.

Ai sipped carefully at his tea. “I’m not really sure why you people like this,” he mused. “It’s an interesting taste, though.”

“I like it,” Yuusaku admitted. “It’s very good tea.” Perhaps he’d have to start getting more of it. Or find out where Ai got this from.

Ai nodded. “If it helps you to sleep.” His eyes glinted in the darkness. “And you are going to sleep. This weekend I want to see if we can go to the beach.”

Yuusaku raised his head and stared at him. “What?” It didn’t matter that he couldn’t see Ai very well. He stared regardless. What in the world did Ai want to do at the beach?

“I said we're going to the beach. It’s going to be very good weather this weekend. Probably the last good weather before winter sets in.” Ai’s lips twitched ever so faintly. “I’ll find us a good place to go to enjoy ourselves. Do you have a swimsuit?”

Yuusaku couldn’t quite get his head wrapped around that. But he slowly shook his head.

“I didn't think so. Don’t worry. I’ll get you one.” Ai regarded him, eyes gleaming brightly in the darkness. “Unless you want to go with me so I can try it on you while you’re there.”

Yuusaku had no idea how to even begin responding to that! He spluttered, part of the tea choking in his throat, and Ai quickly patted his back until he had it all properly sorted out.

“That won’t be necessary. I don’t think I need a swimsuit.” What would he even do with one?

“I think you do,” Ai pointed out. “And I’m going to make sure that you get one.”

He tightened his grip around Yuusaku, enfolding him a deep and warm hug. “Now go to sleep.”

“I need to lay down for that,” Yuusaku muttered, setting his teacup to one side. He’d finished it and he could already feel himself starting to slide far closer to sleep than he had before.

Yuusaku wasn’t surprised to hear Ai chuckling the way that he did whenever Ai thought he knew better – which was most of the time. “You can sleep like this. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it.” Ai’s hand touched the blanket, rubbing it in between his fingers and clearly not approving. “You need another one of these, too. And until you get one, then I’m going to keep you warm.” A quick bit of laughter. “I’ll probably keep you warm after that, too.”

It took a bit of effort not to actually sigh at that. He wondered why Ai was like this and decided that he would not only probably never know but it was better if he didn’t know. Some answers people just weren’t meant to have.

Ai rearranged his grip so that he held Yuusaku against him, arms a little more comfortable than Yuusaku would have thought. Not quite like a pillow – he was too dense and hard for that – but Yuusaku found himself relaxing against Ai regardless. Maybe he’d also think about getting a larger pillow, so if Ai wanted to keep doing this, he would be a lot more comfortable. A larger pillow, a better blanket – all that would take money. Very annoying but he had his ways to get what he needed. He’d just never thought it that necessary until now.

With how touchy and clingy Ai had been over the last day, Yuusaku wasn’t surprised to feel Ai’s fingers playing in his hair again. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and relaxed himself. It wasn’t often that he felt this safe, even in his own bed. But here, of all places, he’d never be hurt. Ai was there. Ai would not hurt him. Ai – cared about him. He cared about Ai.

“Yuusaku-chan,” Ai murmured, and Yuusaku wished that he’d be quiet. How could he get his sleep if Ai kept on talking “What do you think about me getting you a thong swimsuit?”

Yuusaku very nearly sat up, all thoughts of sleep doing their best to flee far from him.

“No!”

To Be Continued

Notes: So, should Ai and Yuusaku get to the beach?

[sullustangin]

Headcanon: Theron Shan

^^ --- I lived for that line. 

In honor of Theron Thursday, this headcanon applies to the fic series Corellian Whiskey and Sullustan Gin.

-- Because he was raised by Master Zho until he was 13, Theron missed out on a lot of pop culture -- holo films, music, toys, video games (or the SW equivalent), comic books, etc.  He caught up on the comics thanks to one of his classmates at the Coronet City Military Academy, but he doesn’t have a favorite song or a favorite holo.

-- However, as an agent, he can sing, dance, and act for cover purposes. Essentially, he knows and can do the science/technical aspects but hasn’t developed a personal taste regarding any of these arts.  They’re tools. 

-- Theron is a voracious reader, which is why the comic books were read.  He’s read the classics of the galaxy and plows through the best seller list for fun; if he takes a date out to see a holo, he has read the book first.

-- He has the bad habit of using his implants to read intel and data when he’s supposed to be reading or watching something that doesn’t interest him. 

--  Theron went from Jedi youngling to military academy student to SIS trainee; he can boil water, and that’s about it.  Home ec was never on the agenda.  He does like food, however, and he’s eating his way through the best restaurants on Alderaan once he finishes up Coruscant. 

-- Theron has a datapad of holo stills and a few vids from his childhood.  That’s it as far as keepsakes go.  He has a few bits of memorabilia from his swoop circuit days, but in general, Theron’s life fits in a few pieces of luggage, mostly clothes.  I imagine he doesn’t even have enough stuff to make a place look frat house messy.

-- Theron does that thing of buying clothes in multi-packs (shirts, underwear, socks, everything), but he gets away with it like George Clooney got away with wearing the same tuxedo for 20+ years.  That said, he’s not in the clothes we see in-game all of the time....it’s just that certain pieces keep rotating through due to multipack buys. 

Semi-spoilery headcanon below the the cut.

-- Theron is very discreet about his past and his private life when he’s working.  A small number of SIS coworkers know his preferences, and he has dated a few people from the office.  Nothing serious, nothing long term; the people in the know respect him enough not to gossip.

-- However, everyone else not in the know is thirsty as hell for Theron gossip, so there’s really crazy stuff out there.  There’s even a rumor within the rumor mill that Theron planted some of the more bizarre items deliberately for science.  Or for his own amusement.  Why not? 

-- Yes, there is a rumor that Marcus Trant is Theron’s dad. 

-- Gossip shoved aside:  In my headcanon, Theron is bisexual, heteroromantic. His partners are women, 75-80% of the time.  He’s gone on dates with non-binary people.  He’s gone on dates with men that ended in bed, and he’s also gone on dates that didn’t end at one apartment or another.  However, he pursues relationships and consistent sexual contact with women.  Biphobia exists in my version of the Old Republic, so Theron is highly cautious about revealing this; some women have reacted negatively to it in the past. 

I work ahead on the series, so I’m actually a fic and a half ahead of what I’m posting on AO3.  I’m at a point in writing the series where it’s taking a increasingly overt sexual turn -- thoughts get closer to action. Theron knows he has to disclose certain information at some point to potential love interest Eva (OC smuggler), but he’s not looking forward to it due to past experience. Eva, however, can gather intel on her own, plus she reads people like she reads gambling tables -- well.  She figures it out before he tells her.  Eva is fine with it; if he can handle her body count, she can handle his body count, whatever the composition. 

[beermencjs]

falling [tony stark]

a repost, originally posted in my former writing blog

relationship: tony stark x stark!daughter!reader

warning: swearing, none; mistakes here or there

request (anon): hey! would you wanna write a tony stark x daughter reader where like tony didn’t die and mysterio actually wants to get revenge on tony himself instead of poor spider boy :( and like beck ends up involving tony’s daughter in it somehow?? just very angsty but fluff at the end,,,,i just love tony being a dad

notes:  i got carried away with this, i realize there’s not too much angst but i hope you still like it. also, i made pepper the mother here.

summary: y/n stark has been taken, and it’s up to tony to save her

After Tony’s near-death experience during the war with Thanos, you can’t help but stand by him almost 24/7. It’s not that you don’t trust him alone, it’s just that…well, yes, you really don’t trust him alone. He could fall over and need help getting up, he could be having nightmares and you aren’t there to wake him, and most importantly, he could be calling out for you and you’re not there to give him a hug and say it’s okay; he’s done that a few times, call you out, thankfully you were right there by his side.

It’s been months since then but nothing has changed between him and you. You’ve relaxed a bit more; only looking behind you from time to time when you’re both working in the lab, not feeling jittery at every sound you hear, like the spoon clattering on the ground or cough and wheeze, but you’re still always alert and by his side.

One day, you were looking through some paperwork Tony had asked you to go through with him. You didn’t like doing anything that had to do with paper, especially when it came to those working for your father as you thought everything was supposed to be between them and him for now, but your dad asked you ever so nicely and you couldn’t help but say yes. Sometimes you think he’s taking advantage of your love for him, but you just laugh that off. ‘Of course not,’ you think with a smirk and a roll of your eyes.

So here you are, on the dining table with papers scattered around you and Tony on the other side with his Stark technology running through some systems, You stare at the hologram before looking down at the physical pieces of paper. You ask him why he still kept papers when his awesome geniusness could file his work easily.

“Sometimes good ol’ paperwork is good for the brain, y/n. Easily editable with a pen. It’s exercise. Doesn’t strain your young eyes much…yet.” He shrugged. “And also, I didn’t make that, one of my earlier assistants did.”

You nodded your head slowly. ‘Well that explains things.’ You look again at the scattered paper before sighing. You were so used to using your dad’s gadgets that when it came to proper work, aside from studies, you couldn’t fathom using a pen to edit anything in front of you. You’d rather be touching the screen, typing and swiping away as the data  was backed-up every time even a slight change was done.

Before long, you’ve reached the last employee. Quentin Beck. He was an older man, younger than Tony but definitely older than you. His facial hair reminded you of your father’s. And in some weird way, despite that fact, you found him kinda cute. You raised the paper to show your father and ask if the man still worked for him.

“Ah, Quentin Beck, yeah, I remember him. He helped out with the Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing.”

“The B.A.R.F.?” you clarify.

“That’s the one.” Tony nodded and pointed at you with his index finger. “He was pretty unstable so I had to fire him. Well, I asked Pepper to fire him. He was a good one, could be considered a genius. But again, he was unstable and we couldn’t have that.”

You look again at the picture and decide that it was best he was fired, who knows what he could have done?

So you mark the paper as ‘terminated’ and placed it in a pile with the rest of the fired employees. “What would you like me to do with these stacks, Dad?” you ask. You’ve got four stacks now labeled EMPLOYED, TERMINATED, RETIRING, RESIGNED. “Garage? Study? My room?”

Tony gave a small smile. “Put the EMPLOYED and RETIRING in my study, the RESIGNED and TERMINATED in the storage room in the garage, I’ll have a look at them later.”

“Which means never,” you correct, smirking.

“That is not true. I need to check my former employees, too.” Tony chuckled. “I have to focus on the now but I swear I’ll check out those two piles as well. Keep them nearest the door so I have no choice but to stumble upon them soon…er, or later.”

You giggle. “Okay. Sure, Dad.”

You grab the pile EMPLOYED and placed it inside one box, writing the name on the side, and doing the same for the rest of the papers. You stack the EMPLOYED and RETIRING together, then the TERMINATED and RESIGNED together. First you bring up the two initial boxes to Tony’s study, carefully placing it beside his chair. You go back to the dining room and grab the latter boxes and walk to the side of the house where the door to the garage is.

Entering the darkened room with only the moon as the source of light coming in from the open door for the cars, you walk slowly to the corner and enter the larger-than-most storage room. Switching on the lights, you place the boxes down near the door as instructed and dust your hands. “Job well done, y/n. Job well done.”

As you switch off the lights, you were aware of a movement from behind the car. Thinking it could be a cat, you shrug it off. But the shadow loomed closer and it was in the shape of a person, not a small animal. You were trapped. “Dad,” you croaked. You thought you could hide your fear but obviously not. “Dad!” you tried again.

“Hello, y/n.”

Then everything went dark.

You finally woke up to the sound of machines zooming around. It was bright and you blinked your eyes a few times to adjust to it. You noticed your hands were bound together with a rope and you sighed in defeat knowing fully well that you’re nothing without the technology from the lab.

So you look around the area again. You’re in the corner of a very large room. There were railings nearby and you could see how high you were, probably at the topmost floor of a very big building, maybe it was an old factory once.

There were people around you but they paid you no mind. You were tempted to call one of them but your voice was dry and you realized how thirsty you were.

Thankfully, your feet and legs were free and so you tried your best to move around, even trying to stand up, but they were jelly-like and you couldn’t get off an inch from the ground. Sighing in frustration, you glared at those around you, hoping to be noticed.

Later, after a few minutes of people-watching, someone came forward and looked at you, tilting their head as if you were some new specimen. “You’re awake.”

“I can’t believe you can tell,” you reply with an edge in your voice. “Who are you supposed to be?”

“Dr. Riva,” he introduced himself. “It’s good that you’re unharmed.”

“I better be, my dad will freak.”

“Oh, we know.”

You snap your head back a little. ‘So this is for my dad,’ you thought. ‘He hasn’t done anything these past few months to make any new enemies.’

“You’re probably wondering who we are,” Dr. RIva continued.

“No shit, Sherlock.” You look around again for any signs of a video recorder, or if any more people were listening to the conversation between you and Dr. Riva. “And where am I supposed to be?”

He shrugged. “We’ll let Mr. Stark find out for himself. Now, why don’t you make yourself more presentable.”

“Am I not presentable?” you taunted.

Suddenly, another man appeared. Taller, broader, more handsome. And you’ve definitely seen him somewhere before. Quentin Beck. “Hello, y/n.” He smiled at you, his hands pointing to different directions. He was wearing a funny outfit but now is not the time to laugh. “I see you’ve grown. Haven’t changed much, though.”

“You know me?” you wonder. You’ve never seen him before aside from the picture earlier so why was he talking like he knew her form before. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

“I was a Stark employee, y/n. I’ve seen many things come and go from the home of Tony Stark. Unfortunately, I wasn’t important enough to be remembered.” He gritted his teeth. “I wasn’t important enough for your daddy dearest to give me credit with my own work! He even fired me! Do you know how that affected me?”

You begin to shy away from him slowly. ‘This guy is unstable,’ you remembered, ‘gotta keep him away.’

“But I swore that I’d get my revenge,” Beck continued. “And so I have you. Now all we have to do is wait for Mr. Stark and we’re all set.”

Meanwhile, back in the Stark home, Tony had been looking around for you. He’d gone to every room, checked yours more than he can count. He scouted the area near the house for any signs of you but you were, as he feared, missing.

“Pep, have you seen y/n?” he finally asked. He was afraid of asking his wife, he didn’t want her worrying about anything for the time being. She, too, had gone through a lot. “I can’t find her anywhere.”

Pepper uncrossed her legs from the sofa and looked at Tony worriedly. “She’s gone?”

“Afraid so.” He scratched the back of his head. “But don’t worry, I placed a tracker on her phone. I didn’t want to use it because ‘teenage privacy’ but I guess I don’t have much of a choice now.” He sighed and turned on his phone. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, he frowned. Pepper noticed and asked what was wrong. “It’s been messed with.”

“Oh, Tony.”

“I got this, I got this.” Tony held onto her hand to assure her. As he was thinking of what else he could do, the doorbell rang and the intercom came to life. An idea popped into his head. Pepper went to answer the door as he ran to his study.

He was ready to check every camera that was attached to his house but he decided it was best to start with the garage since that was where you said you’d be the last time he saw you. ‘And I will see her again,’

Back in Quentin Beck’s base, he was still watching over you, and you would sneer at every chance you could get. That’s when he heard it. “He’s here,” he announced. “He’s here! He’s finally here! Everyone to your positions!”

You heaved a heavy sigh. ‘Dad.’

Tony Stark, in his latest suit, burst through the door and flew midair. He raised his arms in two different directions and took out as much guns and blasters as he could, aiming them all in different areas. His head shifted around looking for signs of his daughter. “Where’s y/n?” he demanded when he couldn’t see you.

“Mr. Stark!” Beck called out. Tony calculated quickly that you were both on the fiftieth floor. “It’s me, Quentin Beck! You remember me, don’t you?”

From behind his mask, Tony glared. “I don’t give a damn about you, Quentin. Where’s my daughter and I won’t harm a single employee in this building.”

Beck laughed. “Oh, Mr. Stark. Since when have you cared about anyone but yourself?”

“Give me back my daughter.”

“Not until you admit that I’m a better genius than you!”

You rolled your eyes. ‘Here we go.’

“Fine, you’re a better genius than me, now where’s y/n?”

Beck laughed again. “You have to mean it, Tony. You don’t just say it. You have to mean it.” He shook his head. “Mean it like when I gave my heart and soul to that holographic illusion system and you just said that it was your creation and even gave it that stupid name!”

“B.A.R.F.,” you reminded him.

“Shut up!” he exclaimed. He turned back to your father and said, “I told you we could have done great things with it! But what did you do? You turned into some therapeutic shit! The world doesn’t need that, Tony!”

“Tell me, Beck, what have you done with that technology? Hm? Tell me what you’re going to use it for.” Tony was slowly flying up to the topmost floor, his blasters still at the ready. “Enlighten me, Beck.”

Beck smirked. “I’m going to be the greatest superhero the world has ever seen.” He turned to an employee and shouted, “Now!”

To yours and Tony’s surprise, a cyclone monster appeared. Your eyes widened, you’ve never seen anything like that before. “Dad,” you murmured. But someone had carried you from the ground and brought you closer to the railings.

Tony was busy fending off the cyclone. He used his blasters to hit certain areas and you could see that the monster was getting transparent in some areas. Without finishing off the hologram, he flew to the level you and Beck were in and landed on the floor. “Don’t forget, Beck, I know how this technology works. You’re not fooling me.”

Beck gave an evil grin. “Oh, I just did.” He snapped his fingers and the person holding you threw you off of the rails.

“Daddy!” you screamed.

“Y/n!” Tony called out.

You were falling and falling and falling. The bright lights made you more scared as you knew that if you looked down, you’d know exactly where’d you be. “Daddy!” you screamed again. You could hear Tony screaming your name but he was too far away. You closed your eyes as tears fell and floated away. “Dad,” you called out softly.

Then you stopped falling. You didn’t know where you stopped, how close you were to the ground, and you didn’t care. You looked up and saw that Iron Man was carrying you and you were both floating in midair.

“I got you,” Tony whispered, “I got you.” He pulled you in for a hug and you wrapped your arms around him. “I got you.” And you sobbed.

You didn’t know where Quentin Beck ran off to. But Tony was able to call his friends and arrested the employees they were able to gather up. Dr. Riva was not one of them.

For the rest of the night, as you and Tony stayed in the area to help out if you could, he wouldn’t leave your side and you would lean on him from time to time, just to make sure he was right there with you. “So much for me being by your side all the time, huh, Dad?”

“I think it’s time for a change,” he replied. He saluted at your godfather Rhodey before turning back to you. “You know I love you, right, y/n?”

You smiled. “I love you, too, Dad.” After a few minutes you said, “I want a cheeseburger.”

[eldunea]

how lotor picked the new typed gym leaders of the prussian league.

given that 39 of the 45 previous gym leaders of preuzien were working for the evil team that ruled the region from the 1950s until the present day, lotor had a lot of replacing to do. he had to replace both type specialist and non-specialist gym leaders, but here i’m going to talk about how he replaced all the typed leaders except for the dark, poison, ghost, psychic and fighting leaders--making that 13 people he had to replace.

the first part of the application was pretty standard, sort of like a college application. you submit your resumé and some supplemental essays. what is out of the ordinary, however, are some of the essay questions, which force you to really think outside the box. moreover, the application also asks you for three references, and whereas it’s frowned upon in normal job apps to submit the names of those whose relationship to you is solely personal and not professional, this application SPECIFICALLY asks you to submit the names of friends, significant others, and/or family as your references, with at least one of the references being a friend or SO of 5+ years. (don’t have a friend or SO of 5 or more years? lotor takes that as a sign that you’re incapable of forming stable, healthy long-term relationships and that is an automatic rejection.) i’ll explain this more later on in the post.

in order to be able to enter the prussian league as a gym leader, you have to have beaten the prussian league OR the prussian national tournament OR received equivalent experience--and when they talk about equivalent experience, they mean something absolutely fucking insane, such as being champion for like 10+ years, winning multiple foreign league conferences in a row, or defeating multiple legendaries at full strength because prussia’s league is so insane that that is the bar for even the lower-ranked league members. notwithstanding these high restrictions, a whopping 40,000 people applied from both within preuzien and from around the world. lotor personally read each and every single application and personally accepted or rejected each one--with his eidetic memory and his ability to read entire pages simply by glancing at them, he was able to read and analyze roughly 2,857 applications a day. the process was extremely selective: out of the ~3,000 people who applied for each available typing, only 20 of them were moved on to the next round.

the next part of the application also seems completely ordinary on the surface: you do an interview. however, this is not a normal interview by any means. you don’t sit down for an hour, get a bunch of questions listed off at you, and then get up to leave. instead, you spend an entire week with your interviewer so that they can get to know you inside and out. they do ask you some standard interview questions, but their purpose is far more extended and complex: they want to observe you, learn you from the inside out, and only after you pass this test can they move you on to the next round.

lotor also chose the interviewers with a purpose. these aren’t just standard office workers, no. all of his interviewers are spies, government agents, interrogation specialists, detectives, social workers, psychologists…people who are trained to not only psychoanalyze you to hell and back, but also to ferret out information that you may want to keep hidden. you may be shy around them at first, but by the end of the week you’ll be spilling your insecurities, personal setbacks and weaknesses and it’ll be too late to stop it. having gathered this intelligence on the candidates, the interviewers then file reports on them and report to lotor and his gym leaders. they all read the reports and have a round table discussion on which 10 people out of the 20 for each type get to move on to the battling rounds.

when you get to the battle rounds, you are first mentored for a week by not only the current prussian league but also by the corresponding typed leader of the 18 typed gym leaders of the süddeutsche (south german) league. this is so that both leagues can get to know you and see how well they work with you and how everyone’s personalities mesh. whereas wilhelmine shunned south germany, considering them to be “weak” and “soft” unlike the “hardened” north germans, lotor wanted preuzien and süddeutschland to have a strong allyship, and so he involved them in the hiring procedure for his new league. this means that not only are you taught some battling skills, you are also given extremely strenuous teambuilding exercises that test your ability to work alongside the gym leaders who will be your future colleagues--whether north (prussian) or south. afterward, you are moved on to the individual battles: unit-style battles in which you are first paired with someone whose type is weak to yours, then against someone whose type is neutral toward yours, then against someone whose type is strong against yours (or in the reverse order). after all the battles are concluded, the south german gym leader for each type has a conference with lotor and the prussian leaders about which six of the ten applicants for that type they would want to admit to the league. the bottom four candidates of each type are eliminated, and the top six move on to the free-for-all campaign.

the free-for-all campaign phase takes place over a period of one month per each group of 26, for a total of 3 months. basically, in each round, two trainers of each of the 13 contested types are thrown into a hunger games-like arena where their goal is to fight each other in a war campaign-like scenario for territory. each person starts out with three square miles to defend for a total of 78 square miles per arena. in addition, you are only given enough food and supplies to last for the first two weeks of the campaign, and if you want to have any more, you must take it at the start of the FFA campaign in an event that is similar to the cornucopia bloodbath in the hunger games.

the first two weeks are known as the “anarchy” phase. in this phase, anyone can attack or ally with anyone else, it’s just a complete and total clusterfuck. but at the end of the second week, when everyone’s preliminary supplies have run out and tempers are running high, lotor makes a surprise announcement that now everyone will be entering a “teamwork” phase. based on your interpersonal relationships in the mentorship period and throughout the anarchy phase, he then puts you in groups of 3 - 4 with the people that you get along with the LEAST. he says now you have to campaign against each other……and you will be judged on how well you work together, and that failure to show proper teamwork is grounds for disqualification from the process. so, to put it into perspective: you’re hungry, thirsty, tired, low on medicine, and now you not only have to work with & share your remaining supplies with a group of people you ABSOLUTELY HATE, you have to do it flawlessly because you won’t get the job if you don’t. lotor does things this way to test peoples’ teamwork skills in extreme ways that have not already been tested by the mentoring stage, and because he understands that in war and in life, sometimes you have to ally with people you may utterly loathe--you need to be able to do that if you want to survive. after each FFA campaign ends, lotor and his leaders review the candidates’ performances, and pick one person from each type to eliminate. the remaining candidates then proceed to what may be the worst part of this entire hiring process of all.

while candidates vie for the newly opened league positions, they do so in special dorms that the previous league built for their own hiring process. for the final stage of the process, the gym leaders literally wake you up at 3 AM and take you to a pale white decorationless waiting room, and put you under the impression that your application is in jeopardy. no one is allowed to speak. no one is allowed to eat or drink. no one is allowed to go to the bathroom. without any fanfare, over the speakerphones they invite you up into the adjoining room.

when you get there, you are told that you are being subjected to another “interview.” but something is wrong. you’re standing in the middle of a dark room, with nothing but a spotlight on you and a microphone for you to speak in. the leaders sit far above you, looking down, the light cast on their faces in a way that’s clearly meant to intimidate. and then when they open their mouths, in voices as hard and cold as ice, they subject you to nothing less than a verbal firing squad on almost every single personal detail of yourself and your values.

the fact that all your references were supposed to be your friends and family? yeah. this is why. while you were out campaigning (or spending the other part of those three months with the southern german gym leaders), lotor did his ahem “reference checks”--which is a real fancy way of saying that he sent professional interrogators & investigators to your friends and family to grill them on every weakness of your character and morality that hasn’t already been revealed. he and his gym leaders then reviewed the information, combined it with all the other data they have collected on you, and used it to pressure you in ANY WAY POSSIBLE to get you to CRACK. this phase is a test of your strength when your personal weaknesses are pushed, a test of how much you know about your own values and about ethics in general, a test of  whether/how you are willing to defend them. when the gym leaders are done with you, if you’ve performed to their satisfaction, they invite lotor into the room. he then proceeds to use everything he knows about you to TEAR YOU APART.

he will make you question your morals. he will make you question your very being. but above all, he is there to show you THE FEAR OF FACING YOURSELF. this is a man who, when his age was still in the single digits, learned how to push his therapists to quit on him in tears; you won’t stand a chance. when he does this, he either leads you into a back room or keeps you where you are--whichever one he thinks will hurt you more. for example, with the current dragon leader, wula feiyun, he led her into the back room because he wanted to isolate her from the leader she had bonded with--the poison leader, ngozi okocha. however, with marcia ferreira, the current grass leader, he kept her in the room with the other leaders because he knew she had a fear of being judged by others. he was kind and gentle and helpful when you knew him throughout the rest of the process; that man is gone when he faces you now, replaced by someone who is harsh and cold and cruel; it’s such a jarring contrast that he might as well be a stranger. he does not use your traumas or mental illnesses against you. he does not need to. during her session marcia glared at him and told him, “tell me i deserved my abuse. i dare you.” to which he replied, “i haven’t had to go that far in order to get you to SNAP.”

he has made people defecate themselves with the power of his words. he sends people running from that room in total meltdowns. they sprint out the door, or collapse in their chairs, chests heaving, faces in hands; you cannot say anything to them to ease their pain or your own, you can only sit in silence as they fill the lifeless room with screams and sobs. some are moved into a different room altogether as they await their results; those who await whatever torment lies in the dim-lit interrogation chamber are left thinking that the ones who don’t come back have gone on to see something worse. then when many hours have passed, when you have sat wordlessly awaiting the end of this ordeal, he brings every candidate into an auditorium. you go in, expecting the pain to continue…

…but you don’t get any pain. you get an explanation.

at the end, he sits everyone down and explains to them what he’s done. he tells them why he insisted that references are those who have known you personally, how he selected for his interviewers those who were professionally trained to psychoanalyze and gather information, why he insisted on putting everyone through such an ordeal. it becomes apparent at this point the extent to which He Doesn’t Trust Anybody: he is well aware of how many people like to lie and bullshit their way through job interviews, boasting of their accomplishments and good character…well, he says fuck off to that. in his interviews, in his hiring process, THE TRUE SELF IS REVEALED, the self laid bare by strife and fear. when your back is against the wall, you can’t bullshit a level of inner strength that you don’t have.

but there’s more to that. he says that the final trial is an interview and not a battle because of how much he prizes character. for it is not mere battling strength that makes a real league member; as he saw from the thousands of applicants, people with qualified resumés are a dime a dozen, but as proven by the process, only thirteen of those people have the necessary personality and understanding of values to truly succeed. he says that if they think he and his leaders were cruel or harsh or extreme or even unethical in that room or at any point during the process, what they went through there is NOTHING compared to the personal challenges they will face as leaders of preuzien. the region has gone through two horrific dictatorships--first at the hand of fascists, then at the hands of wilhelmine--and is only now getting the chance to heal and rebuild. the leaders who guide them through that healing must be ready to stand by their ethics and conquer their personal weaknesses no matter HOW much pressure they face--and they CANNOT FAIL.

do you know the apocalyptic power vested in this country? in its legendaries? he asks. do you know what it would mean for the leaders of the nation with some of the strongest and most misguided trainers in world history to fail their people at a critical time because they had a moment of incompetence or weakness? weakness is not an option. failure is not an option. failure to bring preuzien back from its past in ANY WAY will lead the country and perhaps the entire world to a fate worse than death. the gravity of that work, he tells you, demands the exactingness and extremeness inherent in his methods. only through the harshest trials of character can those who are truly ready be revealed. he is not like wilhelmine; he does not just want the best of the best to have the bragging rights to say his league is the strongest, both in terms of battling and personal strength. he wants his league to be the best of the best in every way because IT IS WHAT THE COUNTRY REQUIRES.

[journey4theseason]

Do You Know What Your Body Is Saying - Really? You Sure?

Physical Wellness is much more than losing weight When the term physical wellness is mentioned, most people think of dieting and losing weight. If part of your plan for physical wellness involves losing weight, don’t simply go on a diet. As we all know, if we are being honest, diets don’t work. We know that when it comes to diets, no one size fits all. But as soon as a new fad diet hits the market, we are out the door and to the store or on the computer ordering. If you cannot live on this “newest plan” forever, or let’s say it works for a bit, but the first time you eat normal food, you learn it was all in vain, then that diet is not right for you. Physical wellness is more than losing weight. It involves changing aspects of life that are necessary to keep yourself in top condition. Your body has been telling you how it feels your entire life! But are you listening? Sure, you grew up hearing your body tell you when it’s hungry or thirsty, tired or energetic. You and your body are together all the time. Let’s maximize this close relationship and use it to better understand the true meaning of physical wellness. Physical wellness is concerned with developing a personal responsibility for your own health care, such as caring for minor illnesses and recognizing when professional medical attention is needed. Developing physical wellness empowers you to monitor your own vital signs and understand your body’s warning signs. You’ll understand and appreciate the relationship between sound nutrition and how your body performs. The physical benefits of looking good and feeling terrific most often lead to the psychological benefits of enhanced self-esteem, self-control, determination, and a sense of direction. Physical wellness is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows you to get the most out of your daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. Physical wellness means living responsibly and taking care of your body and recognizing that your daily habits and behaviors have a significant impact on your overall health, wellness, and quality of life. Adopting healthful habits (e.g., a balanced diet, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, and routine health checks) while avoiding destructive habits (e.g., tobacco, drugs, and alcohol) will lead to optimal physical wellness and reduced risk of preventable chronic illness. Our Path to Physical Wellness At the end of this time together, I want you to feel in control of your physical wellness—all components of it. And I know many aspects of physical wellness would be better for many people if we took off some weight. Although this certainly is not a weight loss plan, we will spend time addressing weight loss, because weight is a contributing factor to many areas of health deficiencies. Even in this modern era, many of us are remarkably ill informed and amazingly apathetic about the foods we eat. We know every excuse in the book to justify what we eat. The results are a society in which too many of us are overweight, many to the point of obesity and not to mention all the part of life you may miss because of low energy and low self-esteem. According to 2016 data, adult obesity rates now exceed 35 percent in four states, 30 percent in 25 states, and above 20 percent in all states. Even with these startling numbers, I can’t emphasize enough that dieting is not the answer. A study that examined the results of popular diets concluded that nearly 100 percent of dieters suffered almost “complete relapse after 3–5 years.” So, if you need to lose weight, don’t start dieting; change your lifestyle. Should we count every calorie that we put into our mouth for the rest of our lives? Hopefully not. I truly pray not. It has been my experience that when we focus too intently on weight reduction, we make weight loss even harder to achieve. Instead, we should eliminate from our diets the foods that obviously are bad for us and we should eat more of the foods that obviously are good for us. And of course, we should eat sensible amounts, not super-size portions. As informed adults, we have access to all the information that we need to make healthy dietary choices. In the grocery store, almost every food item is clearly marked. In restaurants, fast food and sit down, nutrition information should be posted. The key point is to read the nutrition information before buying food or ordering a meal and certainly BEFORE putting it into your mouth. It is up to each of us to make wise dietary choices because we pay the consequences. I wish I could honestly tell you that from here on out you will experience nothing but success along your path to physical wellness. Temptation is a frequent visitor in our lives, and we will have to discipline our emotions, our moods, and our mouths, so that we remain stable and calm, and peaceful—regardless of our situation or circumstances. Now that we have established physical wellness is more than just weight loss, what else is there? And how do we start down this path toward physical wellness? Physical wellness is not a destination; it is a journey. We cannot get in peak physical shape and feel totally healthy one day and then do nothing the next day to maintain that state of health. We do, however, need to find out where we are today—that is, where is our base so that we know where we are headed on this journey. Physical Wellness Assessment Indicate yes or no for each of the following statements: ____ I know important health numbers, like my cholesterol,  weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. ____ I get annual physical exams. ____ I listen to my body; when there is something wrong, I seek professional advice. ____ I maintain a desirable weight for my body type. ____ I avoid using tobacco products and do not consume more than three alcoholic beverages per week. ____ I get a sufficient amount of sleep for my age (seven to eight hours). ____ I have an established exercise routine. ____ I protect my skin from sun damage by using sunscreen, wearing hats, and/or avoiding tanning booths and sunlamps. ____ I protect myself and others from getting ill (wash my hands, cover my mouth and nose when I cough, etc.). ____ I eat at least five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily and drink water regularly. IDENTIFY MY GOAL AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Now is the time to begin defining and planning your goals to start your journey based largely in part on the results of this Physical Wellness Assessment. Remember these are your goals. No goals are one size fits all. What your body needs is not what your best friend’s body needs. It is also the first step/week, and it is okay to change your goals as you continue along this journey and learn more about yourself. I found focusing on the social (17/40), emotional (23/40), intellectual (25/40) have actually had a positive influence on my physical (29/40) already. 1. The goal I want to achieve is: 2. I want to achieve this goal because: 3. Achieving this goal will change my life in the following positive ways: 4. Achieving this goal will change my life in the following negative ways: 5. I am ready to face all the changes that accomplishing this goal will mean for me. I can lessen the negative impact that this change will have in my life by: 6. I will be happier if I achieve my goal because: OUTLINE: WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO UNDERSTAND PHYSICAL WELLNESS What steps do you need to complete to ensure your success in the action steps above? List below, the most important things or subgoals you need to accomplish to achieve your primary goal. (Each subgoal may have smaller steps within them.) STEPS TO BE COMPLETED 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Physical Wellness continues in our next blog..... Click Subscribe to join our email list and get your free Lifestyle Assessment for all seven dimensions that make up life.... Read the full article

[radwolf76]

Initial Reactions Post

(With Screenshots)

So I've yet to read the hundreds of analysis articles that I'm sure have been posted in the past day or so, so this post will likely duplicate observations that have been made by dozens of others at this point, but I'm going into this clean, so here are one Trekker's personal reactions.

(Also this post would have been up last night if my browser and paint.net hadn't decided to take themselves out in a mutual crash, wiping everything.)

---------

This is a bit out of order, but we're going to start with this handsome motherfucker. He looks like he's the Vulcan (Romulan?) analogue of a samurai, and if the showrunners know the fandom and intend to invoke patterns of what came before, he's meant to be the series' big popular breakout character. I can already hear the fanfics being written, probably because they're so damn thirsty. As they should be.

We're shown that Picard is spurred out of his retirement by a woman who comes to him for help.

Now it may just be the lighting, but I swear, her irises look like they could be golden. I used an eyedropper tool to sample image pixels of both highlighted and unhighlighted parts of her eyes and they all were in this neighborhood:

It's subtle, but even her skin tone seems like it could also be unnaturally pale yellowish. But that may just be me reading too much into it. More on this later.

We're later shown this woman defending herself from a set of attackers dressed like if Daft Punk decided to become ninja assassins, while on a set of stairs.

(I warned you about stairs, Bro.)

One of the attackers has a sleek looking symmetrical Over/Under beam pistol which immediately made me think of Disney's The Black Hole, which probably wasn't what they were going for.

Also, even though the railings are entirely different, and the top of the stairs is all wrong, looking at this shot made my mind immediately leap to that spot outside the Atlanta Hilton that is traditional for DragonCon Group Cosplay Photoshoots. Again, probably not what they were going for.

(Source)

"THIS FACILITY HAS GONE 5843 DAYS WITHOUT AN ASSIMILATION" 

That's an ominous sign. There's a lot to unpack here. The lighting along the back wall suggests Borg Regeneration Alcoves, but the pointed ears on the guards on the catwalk, the lettering on the other sign, and the red symbols on the railings all say Romulan. Also note that they have the same style of rifle that the attackers on the stairs did.

And presumably here's the outside of that facility that hasn't had an assimilation in 16 years. A re-purposed Borg Cube. The parts that have been destroyed are being replaced by force fields. If the Borg were still in control of this Cube, they wouldn't need the force fields, as they can operate in vacuum, and would work on regenerating the original structure instead. Instead, it would seem the Romulans are using it as a prison-like installation.

Speaking about Re-purposed Borg tech, it seems the studio execs weren't content with just bringing back one fan-favorite to ensure high ratings.

So let's pause here for some theory time. Who is this mystery woman who came to Picard because she feels safe with him, and why do the the Romulans want her dead? At this point of the timeline the Romulans have been without a homeworld for some time. We also know that they've been reverse engineering Borg tech; it's why the Narada was so very Extra.

I suspect that their converted cube is not a prison, but instead a facility that they're using to de-borgify captured Drones, either to supplement their empire's reduced population and become more diverse, like the Federation, or alternately, to provide themselves with a ready source of conscripted battle-fodder.

While they were doing this, they came across a Soong-Type android, our mystery woman. The Borg Queen experimented directly on Data in First Contact, and Hugh's splinter group of Borg had plenty of exposure to Lore in the events of Descent parts 1 & 2. I believe that the collective took the information that they gathered from those encounters, and built their own android. To what end, I'm not sure yet, but if the showrunners are feeling especially bold, it's possible she could represent a chance at a peaceful resolution to the Borg Story Arc at long last, which would certainly be something worth bringing Picard out of retirement for in both the Watsonian and Doylist senses.

But that's just a theory. A TREK theory.

Now back to observations. One question I have, the trailer dialog has been going on about how Picard needs to be the captain again, but if that's the case, why in this shot do they have him in a chair to the side, while this Dennis Miller looking guy gets the center chair? I mean he's got the Regulation Starfleet Issue Captain Spread & Lean going on and everything.

(I'm HERE though for Helm's Hairdo.)

Ok, I know I already made one comment about a pistol prop looking like a prop from something else, and there's only so many ways to design a sci-fi raygun...

But there's no way you'll convince me that the art department didn't totally just crib the design of Worlds of Wonder's Starlyte Pistol from Lazer Tag in the 80s there.

"Engage"

Look at this smile. He's so glad to be back, actor and character.

(Alternate caption: “Pull my finger.”)

"I don't want the game to end."

The last time Picard was a Captain on the small screen, All Good Things, the final scene had him joining in with the bridge crew's poker game, so this scene bookends that hiatus beautifully.

Until that is, we see his opponent.

Data, B4, or whoever this is, just looks badly off. I understand that they had to deal with Brent Spiner aging while playing a character who is ageless (though a line of dialog from the episode Inheritance established that Soong had given him an Aging program), but whatever they did here missed the mark by quite a bit.

My wife was so offended by this, she took straight to Photoshop to fix it: "most of it was giving him back his eye bags, making the pupils bigger and giving his eyes some life, and whitening his brows and lashes."

CBS, if you're listening, take notes.

[onmountcarmel-blog]

Little Differences between Everyday Life in the US and in Israel

After a few months in Israel, I created a Google Sheet, which I titled “Differences Israel/USA,” where I would jot little differences down when I noticed them. I now have a bonafide list of amusing differences to share. 

Car Locks - In the USA, you lock your car. In Israel, you lock your car and most people also have a second lock for their steering wheel (that has a numeral code that you enter each time you want to start the car). 

Strollers - Babies in the US, generally sit up in their strollers, after about six months. It must be a faux pas to have an upright baby in Israel, because almost all babies lay flat in strollers here. 

Bathroom Light Switches - In the USA, bathroom light switches are on the inside of bathrooms. In Israel, bathroom light switches are outside bathrooms, most of the time. I asked one of my colleagues about this, and she said it was due to some concern about electricity and water. I find this amusing, because there are often exposed wires in bathrooms (and our bathroom has a heater - a welcome addition to the lack of central heat - with open coils). 

Gender & Bathrooms - Gender and bathrooms combine to create an explosive political issue in the USA, but in Israel, most bathrooms are co-ed or genderless. Many restaurants have two or three small, genderless toilets behind closed doors, and a shared sink area. 

Cost of Cell Phone Plans - In the US, Kenny paid $50 a month for his bring-your-own phone cell phone plan. I was still on my parents plan (thanks, Mama and Papa). In Israel, we pay $15 dollars a month for both of our plans. That includes enough data and some international minutes! 

Penny Pinching - When your food costs $5.52 in the US, you better have those two pennies. In Israel: "Ehh, you don't have that last 6 shekels - no big deal!" When paying in cash at small businesses (like falafel stands), don't be surprised if the last little bit of your bill is waved off.

Negotiating - In the US, even at markets, prices are set and price tags are present. In Israel, when you go to markets (or even when you are working to decide on rent with your landlord), you are expected to haggle. Most items do not have price tags - their prices are almost entirely subjective and sometimes tourists are given higher prices than locals.

Bagging Groceries - At most grocery stores in the US (except Aldi), someone is there to bag your groceries. And in most places, plastic bags are free (I’ve only paid for a plastic bag in the US once and that was in DC). Even small-town grocers have high schoolers to bag your groceries (Kenny was once a bag boy). In Israel, you are expected to bag your own groceries, and the plastic bags are not free. What surprises me, in our middle-class neighborhood, is that most people pay for the bags, rather than bring their own reusable bags! How wasteful (squared)!

Hot Water - In the US, most homes and apartments have electric or gas hot water heaters. In Israel, most homes and apartments have solar water heaters AND an electric water heater for the winter. The water in the summer is incredibly hot, but it gradually cools down as the winter rains arrive. 

Cleaning the Floor - Maybe I have just missed something here? When you clean the floor in the US, you generally use a mop and bucket or a swiffer. Here, there are just these oversized squeegees and rags. It is a skill that I have not honed, which is why our tile floors are less than sparkling. I am happy to acquire this skill, if anyone is willing to share their knowledge. 

College-Aged Adults - In the US, college-aged people carry their smartphone, wallet, and car keys. In Israel, they carry their smartphone, wallet, automatic rifle, and bus/train pass. Conscription exists in Israel for all non-Arab citizens. The normal length of compulsory service is currently two years and eight months for men (with some roles requiring an additional four months of service), and two years for women. It’s hard to get used to seeing pimple-faced 18 year olds, dressed in street clothes, carrying automatic weapons. 

Lines - Lines in the US mean “wait your turn,” and most are respected. In Israel, they are merely suggestions. Kenny and I have witnessed a vicious screaming match over who was first at the grocery deli counter (we didn’t weigh in), and I have often had to muscle in front of someone who was trying to jump the line at the checkout counter. I have heard this is the case in many places around the world. In my opinion, it is the worst while waiting in line to check into flights at the airport (especially for those dreadful 5AM flights to the US out of Tel Aviv). The problem has been mediated at the Post Office, Pharmacy, and Health Clinic by machines that have you take a number and wait until your number is called. 

Bag Check / Security - In the US, you sometimes have to show the contents of your bag when you are exiting a store, to ensure that you did not steal something. In Israel, you have to show the contents of your bag when entering most larger stores, malls, or large buildings. At our local grocery, the security staff no longer checks my bag (they recognize me), but they often ask Kenny (in Hebrew) if he is carrying a weapon. 

Traffic Lights - I love Israeli traffic lights! They have an “on your mark, get set, go” feature! When the red light is changing to green, the red starts to blink, and then turns to yellow, and then green. The same is true in reverse. People are less likely to get caught on their phones or buzz through a yellow light. 

Illegal Parking - In the US, if you park illegally, you will be towed. Promptly! In our neighborhood, so many Israelis ignore the traffic rules that it is simply not possible to tow all the illegally parked cars away. It doesn't help that there are never enough parking places; cars are often parked on sidewalks.

Rules in General - Much like lines, in the US, rules are respected and generally followed. In Israel, rules are considered suggestions. The one who gets ahead in Israeli society knows how to bend the rules to fit his own goals.

Car Seats - In the US, it is not legal to have child car seats in the front seat. Here, in Israel, there are countless infant seats in the front seat of cars. HOW IS THIS SAFE? 

Water Glasses - When you go to a restaurant in the United States and order a glass of water, you will receive a healthy helping of ice cold H20. In Israel, you will receive a sad, room temperature shot glass of water. I am a very thirsty person, drinking on average 120 ounces of water a day.  And... I just miss ice (especially in the heat of Israeli summer). I would like a big girl glass, please, with so much ice that it is sweating. 

Food - Food is just of such a higher quality here. All grocery stores are also mini-bakeries, with absolutely amazing fresh bread and pastries. In the US, when Kenny and I would go out to eat, he would usually have his pick of the menu, while there would be two or three vegetarian options for me. Here, it is the exact opposite! And SALADS here are respected and honored, given the proper place they deserve as real (and not diet food). 

Does anybody have anything else that I should add to my list? 

[gonewiddershins]

Romancelandia you don’t have to ask I’m just gonna say it anyway~

Original Post Here

Barbara Cartland: Favourite author?

Courtney Milan.

Alisha Rai: Favorite era? (i.e. when they were written, not when set)

Current! I’m ecstatic to see how much more punk the romance novel genre has become lately- so many authors explicitly talking about race and class and gender and mental health and neurodivergence in so many interesting ways. Independent publishing opening up entirely new avenues which were not recommended for traditional publications. It’s exciting and wonderful.

Eve Dangerfield: Favourite setting for historicals?

Not sure if my opinion matters here because I have read books from very few eras? I think my preferences have moved to mid-to-late Victorian era for England-based books, but what I really want more of is historicals on other (non North American) continents. I badly want to do a romance in Historical India that is not about Englishmen, for example. Like a Muslim and Hindu falling in love during the Aurangazeb era, maybe. 

Anne Mather: Favourite contemporary setting/sub-genre

Again, I haven’t really read enough to form a nuanced opinion- when I look for contemporaries, my first priority used to be “does this make me laugh?” Which is um- a relic of a bygone era, because that used to be the only thing I wanted from contemporaries. 

Right now, I try to get read more of diverse romance in contemporary eras. Again, including non-American/English nationalities.

Georgette Heyer: Third or first person tense?

Either will do. It’s not really a factor in how much I enjoy a story. 

Lisa Kleypas: Hero/ine you’d most like to date & Jane Austen: Hero/ine you’d most like to be friends with

Same answer to both of the above categories. I’ll take anyone who I think is a rational person who forgives misunderstandings ans does not try to actively make them. I’m not really that picky. 

Amanda Quick: Hero/ine you most relate to

At the time when I first read it as a dramatic early twenties person, Minerva Lane from Courtney Milan’s The Duchess War spoke to me. There was a lot in there about fear and having to push yourself down fro the sake of survival that was similar to my life back then. I cried a lot when I read that book. 

More recently, I really wanted to snuggle up to Verity Plum from Cat Sebastian’s A duke in Disguise because her feelings of independence and placing it above pretty much everything else her life is... yeah. A lot of what Verity says sounds intimately familiar. 

Julie Anne Long: Historical or contemporary?

Historical. Given a choice between two books which are similarly positioned in terms of tropes I like and hate, I’ll pick a historical every time. 

Mariana Zapata: Open or closed door sex scenes? & Anne Hampson: Erotic or clean romances?

Ninety percent of the time I’m thoroughly disinterested in the sex scenes, and sometimes I am actively annoyed at the many pages of boning happening while the protagonists barely have an emotional connection. That said, there are plenty books which have no sex scenes where I am reduced to gross sobbing because GODDAMMIT THERE IS TOO MUCH SEXUAL TENSION IN THE AIR GIVE ME BONING.

I am still thirsty about Jo Beverley’s The Unwilling Bride. There was so much sexual tension and growth and Lucien was hot as hell but there was no sex scene. //grumbles

Elizabeth Hoyt: Paranormal or science fiction?

I haven’t read that much SF romance, but I’m going to pick it anyway because the usual tropes associated with Werewolves/Vampires bug the crap out of me. 

Nalini Singh: Favourite tropes

Both the protagonists have problems with stakes, and one is not there to manic pixie the other. Protagonists have relationships (non-romantic) outside of the romance. Subversions and reversions of gender norms. Banter and Snark. Character tries very very hard to not be emotionally vulnerable, but goddammit there are these stupid feelings. 

Alyssa Cole: Least favourite tropes

Prolonged Miscommunication. Slut shaming, especially when coupled with I Have Had So Much Sex and I am So Experienced hypocrisy. Gratuitous sex with no emotional connection. Protagonists immediately throwing over all other friends/family/loved ones for the sake of their new romantic interest. False competence in female characters which immediately get thrown to the wind when the romantic interest comes on scene (Ahem. Never Judge a lady By Her Cover.)

Rose Lerner: Favourite / Least favourite series

Nope.

Sandra Marton: Favourite romantic non-romance or love story

Unspoken Trilogy, by Sarah Rees Brennan. It is in part a fascinating exploration of privacy in a relationship- most of the rest of it is about friendships and platonic relationships. There is also a cult of sorcerers trying to take over the world via human sacrifice but I continue to insist that’s mostly just setting information. 

Skye Warren: Any problematic faves?

I have a depressingly large soft spot for anything funny, and I will forgive a lot of despised tropes if a book makes me laugh. I’m easy.

Specific examples: Until You (Judith McNaught), Dragon Shifter Series (Katie MacCalister).   

Ainsley Booth: Position on HEAs

I’m cool with those.

Abby Green: Position on HFNs

I like these better than HEAs, because the characters I like tend to be difficult and also fighting various difficult scenarios so it’s far more likely that more problems will pop up in their lives than not. 

Kristen Ashley: Position on the “romance novels are feminist” discourse

Conflicted. I think many romances are feminist, but there are an equal number or more which are patently not. Like all other genres, it has to be judged on a book by book basis, not for the genre as a whole.  

Carla Kelly: Position on the “calling romance novels trashy is problematic” discourse

Yes. Outright dismissal of an entire genre is just dumb. 

Diana Palmer: Position on the “are romance novels porn” discourse

Ha, no. Porn is porn. 

Johanna Lindsey: Position on the “romance novels represent the female gaze” discourse

Yes, I guess? In many romances the way men are portrayed is markedly different from the way they are seen in other genres. Again, this is not a universal constant- all romances do not show men in the exact same way. 

Also, it is hard to find any other genre with a larger proportion of characters, viewpoints and conflicts centered around women so there’s that.   

Mary Jo Putney: Position on the “calling romances without sex ‘clean’ or ‘sweet’ is implicitly slut shaming romances with sex” discourse?

Yes. Just call them romances without sex. What are we, the moral police?

Cara McKenna: What’s your hot take on the “forced seduction” trope?

I understand the time and place where there scenes were popular, and the social norms which prompted them. I’m still uncomfortable with them and there are may things I’d rather read about so I avoid them.    

Abigail Barnette: Opinion of Fifty Shades of Grey

Never read it, don’t plan to. Like I said, sex is not really my thing.

Tessa Bailey: Opinion of Twilight

I gobbled these books like a maniac when I first read them and there is a lot of pure entertainment in there and there is so much emotion. That said, they are not quite as interesting on re-reads. :(

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: Opinion of Pride & Prejudice

I’m not comfortable with the prose, which means i prefer to watch/read adaptations. Most notably the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. 

Lynne Graham: Opinion of Harlequin Mills & Boon

Meh. 

Tessa Dare: Opinion of bodice rippers

I mean, I would be fine if there wasn’t so much of people causing their own problems by refusing to talk to each other. 

Sylvia Day: Opinion of Fabio

I did not even know he was a real person till like- recently.

Roni Loren: Opinion of male romance authors

Yes please. Particularly if they are writing under female pseudonyms. With this, we are getting the exact same thing that female authors did and have to go through- a forced perspective from people oft he other gender. That can only lead to more nuance and acceptance and I am all about that.  

Courtney Milan: All-time favourite romance novel & Jana Aston: Favourite contemporary romance & Judith McNaught: Favourite historical romance

Nope.

Alexa Riley: Physical or digital books?

Digital. I tend to make a lot of highlights and notes and that holds up much better with ebooks. 

E.L. James: Internal drama or external drama

Characters who are not getting together/along because they can’t communicate with each other are better off not being with each other in the first place. So if that’s what internal drama is then I prefer the external type. 

Sarah MacLean: Favourite heroine/s & Maya Rodale: Least favourite heroine/s & Penny Reid: Favourite hero/s & Megan Hart: Least favourite hero/s & Stephenie Meyer: Favourite and least favourite couple/s

I have types rather than specific examples. Most of it has already been detailed out in the tropes questions.

Beverly Jenkins: First romance novel you ever read

Almost Heaven, by Judith McNaught.

Sabrina Jeffries: How long have you been reading romance novels?

14 years or thereabouts.  

Loretta Chase: Last romance novel you read

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian. I’m currently reading An Unconditional Freedom (Alyussa Cole) and Earthrise (MCA Hogarth).

Christina Lauren: Do you need to start a series from the beginning, or can you just dive in anywhere?

Anywhere is fine.

Chuck Tingle: How strong does your HEA have to be?

Not much. See the HFN answer. 

Julia Quinn: Underrated author/s & Mary Balogh: Most overrated author/s & Violet Winspear: Most overrated book/s & Sara Craven: Most underrated book/s & Susan Elizabeth Phillips: Best romance by a debut author? & Madison Faye: Favourite romance by a non-romance author

Error Report: Cannot Compute, not enough data.

Nora Roberts: Least favourite hero and heroine archetypes

Eloisa James: What are you reading when you’re not reading romance?

Fantasy, Science Fiction, YA, Comics, Mysteries, Fanfiction, Nonfiction. I’ll read anything. 

Teresa Medeiros: Other media property you wish was a romance novel

Idk what this means?   

Laura Lee Guhrke: Last romance novel you DNFed

I think it was Elizabeth Kingston’s A Fallen Lady? Which was actually a GOOD book and I skipped ahead to scenes I really wanted to see and those scenes made me cry but also... there was not much about the romance itself that I was really interested in. I loved the heroine to death though. 

Cat Sebastian: Alpha, Gamma, or Beta heroes?

Depends on how they are written, but I confess an Alpha is so easily made into an irredeemable dipshit.  

Jeannie Lin: Ideal hero and heroine archetypes

Family-minded hero stressed out about taking care of his family. Independent, business minded heroine. 

Helen Hoang: Sexually experienced or inexperienced heroines? & Lucy Monroe: Sexually experienced or inexperienced heroes?

Experienced heroines and inexperienced heroes. Play against the type!

Lorraine Heath: When you choose a book do you look for tropes, plots or authors?

Authors, then Tropes. I barely pay attention to plots. 

C.D. Reiss: Puns in titles: 👍 or 👎?

YES. I have picked up books purely because of punny titles. 

Emily Bronte: Favourite cover designs/illustrations & Maya Banks: Least favourite cover design 

I suck a remembering covers so this question is going to get skipped~

Penny Jordan: What would you like to see more of in romance novels?

Diversity and cliche subversions. 

Lauren Blakey: What would you like to see less of in romance novels?

Overplayed cliches played in the same way again and again. Relationships based entirely on sex. 

Betty Neels: What do you think are the high and low points of the genre?

Highs: Romancelandia is probably the most intelligent and nuanced fandom I have ever been a part of and I have been a part of many fandoms. The genre is very, very diverse and there are so many experiments going on in the fringes. Questions and stories about the emotional components of relationships can never get old because there are too many permutations to explore in a few lifetimes.  

Lows: The core of the romance novel industry is still trying desperately to hold on to tropes and themes of older days, many of which are regressive. 

Jill Shalvis: Finish this sentence: “Romance novels are__________”

complex social commentaries. 

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

It’s as if we skipped right from 2018 to 2020. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren became the first major Democratic candidate to formally dip a toe in the water of the 2020 presidential campaign, announcing the creation of an exploratory committee. Not everyone who creates an exploratory committee ends up becoming an official candidate, but Warren is very likely to. For all intents and purposes, she is now running for president.

Warren has experienced a swift rise, if not a meteoric one, to political stardom. A celebrated consumer advocate and law professor, she oversaw the Troubled Asset Relief Program (better known as the post-financial crisis “bailout”) and shepherded the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during President Obama’s first term. In 2012, she ran for and won elected office for the first time, defeating Republican incumbent Scott Brown 54 percent to 46 percent in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts; she was re-elected by 24 points in 2018. Though not quite at the level of the current Beto-mania, she’s had her moments as a progressive folk hero — a viral video on fair taxation that helped clear the field for her first Senate campaign and Mitch McConnell’s swag-spawning complaint that “Nevertheless, she persisted” after she was cut off in the middle of a speech on the Senate floor.

But if you listen to conventional wisdom — and our favorite quasi-scientific tool, betting markets — Warren’s star has dimmed in recent months. President Trump’s repeated references to her as “Pocahontas” have kept alive a seven-year-old controversy over Warren’s claims that she has Native American ancestry, which potentially helped advance her career. Her release of a DNA test in October 2018 that she hoped would settle the matter was not well received. And in a party reportedly thirsty for a new generation of leadership, the 69-year-old Warren may have missed her window. For the first but certainly not the last time this year, let’s take a look at the case for and against the chances of a major 2020 Democratic candidate.

Ideologically, Warren is right where a Democratic primary candidate should want to be — it’s one of the strongest cards in her hand. According to FiveThirtyEight’s Trump Score, she votes with the president just 13.1 percent of the time, making her the third-most anti-Trump senator in the 115th Congress. Although she’s best known for her stands against income inequality and big banks, she is deeply liberal on both social and economic issues, according to an analysis of her votes and positions by OnTheIssues — although not quite as liberal as Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of Warren’s potential 2020 rivals.

Warren’s base is likely to overlap quite a bit with Sanders’s, the self-described democratic socialist who turned heads in the 2016 presidential primaries by winning 40 percent of Democratic delegates. Warren even seemed to make an explicit play for Sanders voters when she devoted a full minute (mid-personal bio, no less) of her four-and-a-half-minute announcement video to an economic-populist message. “America’s middle class is under attack. … Billionaires and big corporations decided they wanted more of the pie and they enlisted politicians to cut them a fatter slice.”

In fact, at least one poll suggests that Warren and Sanders (if he runs again in 2020) will be fighting over the same pool of voters. Back in April 2018, Suffolk University conducted a poll of two versions of the 2020 Democratic primary in New Hampshire: one without Warren and one with her. In the version without her, Sanders pulled 25 percent of the vote. In the version with her, he dropped to 13 percent; Warren got 26 percent. None of the other six candidates about whom the poll asked lost as much support as Sanders did with Warren in the field.

Sanders and Warren have something else in common: the support of small donors, or those who give $200 or less to a campaign. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, as of Nov. 1, small donors were behind 56 percent of all the money raised by Warren’s re-election campaign. The only 2018 Senate candidate whose fundraising was more reliant on small donors was Sanders himself.

Small donors gave big to Warren

The five 2018 U.S. Senate candidates who raised the largest share of their donations from small donors as of Nov. 1, 2018

Candidate Party State Share of Contributions From Small Donors Bernie Sanders I Vermont 77%

–

Elizabeth Warren D Massachusetts 56

–

Corey Stewart R Virginia 50

–

Beto O’Rourke D Texas 46

–

Geoff Diehl R Massachusetts 45

–

Source: Federal Election Commission via Center for Responsive Politics

And in terms of raw dollar amounts, Warren raised $10 million more from small donors than Sanders did, even though neither one was facing a competitive race. Warren’s $19.4 million small-donor haul was second only to Beto O’Rourke’s among 2018 general-election candidates for Senate or House. Presidential campaigns are expensive affairs, and being a strong fundraiser — particularly among small donors, a well that is less likely to run dry — is a huge advantage. It can also signal high voter enthusiasm for a candidate.

Warren’s deep pockets may also be financing her apparent strategy of building up goodwill among state-level Democrats who will be instrumental in primary and caucus field organizing. According to the Washington Post, she directed at least $7.6 million to Democratic campaigns for offices like state treasurer and legislator in 2018 — more than any rumored 2020 contender not named Michael Bloomberg. As of mid-October, Warren had also made 172 post-primary congratulatory phone calls to Democratic candidates, blasted her email list on their behalf 180 times, shared policy documents with them 63 times, held 61 one-on-one meetings, hosted 41 fundraisers and shot 36 videos. That is how you develop a network.

Central to Warren’s grassroots networking strategy may be New Hampshire — less than an hour’s drive away from her home base and the second state in the country (after Iowa) to cast primary ballots. While she sent one staffer each to Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada for the 2018 election, two of her aides moved to New Hampshire despite it not hosting any particularly competitive major elections. (They assumed pretty major roles there, too — as the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s political director and communications director.)

The polls at this point aren’t very predictive, but if the primaries were held today, it looks like New Hampshire would be her strongest state. In the latest poll of the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, 17 percent of Granite Staters said they would vote for Warren, putting her in third place — 2 points away from second.1 In Iowa — or at least in the three Iowa caucus polls taken since Nov. 6, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polls database — she averages 8 percent, putting her in fourth place. She fares the worst in national polls, averaging 5 percent in seven national 2020 Democratic primary polls2 conducted since Election Day.

Overall, Warren’s campaign looks like it could go either way. With some skill and luck, she could launch herself right into the thick of the nomination fight. But there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about Warren as well, starting with her stature among her own constituents. Just after Election Day, UMass Amherst released a poll of the 2020 Democratic primary in Massachusetts, and Warren garnered just 11 percent of the sample. That is not good in a state where her name recognition is already high and Democrats are as intimately familiar with her record as any 2020 voter is going to get: Most eventual nominees were already lapping the field in polls of their home states at this point in previous presidential election cycles.

Her 2018 re-election was also unimpressive in a state as blue as Massachusetts. Warren won, but only by 24 points in a state nearly 30 points more Democratic-leaning than the country as a whole.3 Add in the extremely favorable national environment to Democrats, and she “should” have won Massachusetts by more than 39 points.4 By this method, Warren had the weakest incumbency advantage across hundreds of Senate and House elections last year.

Elizabeth Warren was 2018′s weakest incumbent

The 10 Senate and House incumbents who underperformed by the most in the 2018 elections*

Incumbent Party State or District Expected Margin† Actual Margin Net Incumbency Advantage Elizabeth Warren D MA D+39 D+24 -15 Chris Collins R NY-27 R+13 R+0 -13 Sheldon Whitehouse D RI D+36 D+23 -12 Mia Love R UT-4 R+12 D+0 -12 David Cicilline D RI-1 D+45 D+34 -11 Bob Menendez D NJ D+22 D+11 -11 Jim Costa D CA-16 D+25 D+15 -10 Duncan Hunter R CA-50 R+14 R+3 -10 Steve King R IA-4 R+13 R+3 -10 Rob Woodall R GA-7 R+10 R+0 -10

*Excluding open-seat elections, elections that did not feature both a Republican and Democratic candidate, jungle primaries, elections with multiple incumbents and elections where the incumbent was an independent.

†Based on the state or district’s partisan lean, its elasticity and the national popular vote.

Source: ABC News

It’s unclear what’s cooling voters on Warren. The fallout from her DNA test just weeks before Election Day is a decent guess. But the controversy over her ancestry may also be a proxy for other, less socially acceptable reasons why people dislike her, such as her gender or age. “I don’t think America’s ready for another Hillary. It has to be someone young and dynamic,” one interviewee told Boston radio station WBUR-FM.

Warren has long polarized audiences and was never the world’s most beloved politician to begin with. That may be because she’s a woman with a confrontational style. It may be sexism mixed with other reasons. Whatever the cause(s), Warren isn’t in the best starting position as she enters the fray. But she’s not in the worst position either — she’ll likely find a receptive audience for her message in terms of policy and ideology. A well-run campaign would put her among the field’s top contenders. We’ll find out soon enough: Warren says she’ll announce for sure whether she’s running “early in the new year.”

[glynnisi]

Sorry it was only meh! Also sorry I was dense RE your prompts post. Forgive? Here's a ditty I worked up just now. Happy Belated Birthday, sweetie. :)

---

Prompt: “When you were drunk yesterday, you kept telling me I kiss better than anyone and I don’t know why, because we’ve never kissed.”

Pairing: ShieldShock

---

So Hot

Darcy’s head pounded, wretched. She ached all over and was terribly thirsty. It could only be a good day if she called in sick. She couldn’t even do that for the whole day. She had to recalibrate the meters by 3pm.

“Stupid meters.”

She reset her alarm for 2pm and prayed the hangover would ease up. Promptly, she passed out again. Only to feel like her alarm went off approximately three seconds later.

Bleary, Darcy turned it off. The pounding was almost better. Her mouth still felt dry. And, yeah. The previous day was a fuzzy blur of disjointed laughter and discomfiting sensations of doing something daring.

Revels. Thor’s birthday revels. Asgardian mead. Lots.

The problem was that she’d spent the previous day with newish-to-her people, the Avengers. Thor wasn’t new to her. Her hangover was his fault. Thor wasn’t the problem. Tony Stark had an impressive history of drunken shenanigans meriting their own Wikipedia page. Also, he was funny, from knowing him two whole weeks. Tony wasn’t the problem.

Her crush was the problem.

“So hot.” Why did those words echo in her memory?

Darcy whimpered as she remembered a disturbing factoid. Captain America couldn’t get drunk.

A flash of gorgeous blue eyes drifted through her mind. Muscles. Heated words. His lips. Desire. “I like sitting here.”

Her brow furrowed. “How close did I get to Steve Rogers?”

All through her quick shower and struggle to dress and do enough makeup to look decent… through drinking water glasses one after another and forcing down crackers, through gathering her things and forcing herself out the door… Darcy wondered what she’d done. Something horrifying?

In the lab, all was quiet. No music. No chatter. Darcy went to work recording data and recalibrating the meters for the next step in her experiment. As she finished the recalibration, she realized someone was waiting by the door.

Someone wanted to talk to her. Someone was being awkward about it.

So, she ignored him until she’d done what she absolutely had to get done. Finally, Darcy faced him. Her hangover-induced paleness shifted to a deep blush when she saw Steve Rogers leaning against the door frame, waiting to talk to her. She supposed it would be fair to say her blush was hangover-induced, too.

“Are you done with what you had to do?” he asked. Steve looked at his watch. “You told me that you’d have to get up to take care of something by 3pm. You have five minutes left, if you’re not done.”

Darcy nodded once. “Done. Thanks for not interrupting.” She swallowed hard and reached for her water cup. “Um, what else did I say? It’s more than a little fuzzy. Do I owe you apologies? Feel like I might.” Darcy was being easy on herself. She was certain that she owed Steve Rogers an apology. She winced, clearly recalling telling him he was ‘dreamy.’ From the moment she’d laid eyes on the First Avenger, her heart and various other body parts had been focused on him. She wanted Steve Rogers desperately, had seriously sexy dreams about him.

She shouldn’t have drunk Asgardian mead around him. She hadn’t had a crush this bad in her entire life.

“No. I’m sorry. You were adorable. No apologies necessary.” Steve shrugged. “Revels. Someone always gets a little fuzzy when there are revels. Thor’s birthday revels still have half the Tower residents in their beds.”

“Lucky them. He’ll be so proud,” Darcy snarked. She put a hand to her head. “Stupid meters needed stupid calibrating.”

“You mentioned that as I took you home, last night at ‘stupid o’clock.’” Steve grinned.

Darcy stared. “You took me home?”

“To your home. I… you needed help. I… helped,” Steve explained. He had his hands in his pockets and he still looked awkward. He didn’t quite look her in the eye.

Darcy was done with awkward mystery. “What do you want to ask me?”

Hearing her impatience- Steve stood taller- squaring his shoulders as though forcing himself to be brave. “When you were drunk yesterday, you kept telling me I kiss better than anyone and I don’t know why, because we’ve never kissed.” His gaze dropped to her lips.

“Oh.” Darcy knew the answer, but hated to admit it without knowing more of his thoughts. “Was I a pest to you? Do I remember sitting in your lap?”

Steve shook his head. “No. I mean... You did sit in my lap. I didn’t take advantage, but you weren’t a pest, at all. I liked it.” The tips of his ears went red. “I did my best to be a gentleman.”

A flash of a memory came to her clearly. She could hear him whisper and groan against her ear, “it wouldn’t be right for me to kiss you while we’re not in full control, sweetheart, no matter how much I’d like to.” Darcy’s eyes went wide. “You wanted to kiss me?”

Steve ducked his head. “Yeah. We were holding hands. You tried to kiss me and I told you it wouldn’t be right after drinking mead.” His cheeks flamed red. “I wanted to kiss you, a lot.”

Darcy’s head was clearing more by the second. “Huh.” She bit her lip, admitting, “you kiss good in my dreams about you.”

His head shot up and he smiled. “Oh. Want to get coffee with me? A date?”

Darcy grinned. “Of course, I’d like to get coffee with you.” She moved closer and poked his bicep. “Hey, cutie? When you say you wanted to kiss me a lot, is that quantity or quality?”

Steve’s brow furrowed as he considered the question. “How about both?”

“Both sounds good.” Darcy raised a brow. “One other question, does Asgardian mead affect you?”

He nodded, blushing. “A little. Sorry. How do you think you ended up in my lap?” He grinned, mischievously.

Darcy laughed, pleased, remembering him telling her, “you’re hot,” first, astonishing and delighting her.

It was a good day, after all.

fin

Welp. It was a pretty Meh birthday filled with lots of parental judgment. My sister in law got me a really cute outfit, though. Also, I’m really enjoying The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Juliet is an awesome character!

[tinypurpleparrot]

Fanfiction Writer Asks

Fuck it, I’ll do it myself, because I know I can’t count on you nerds to actually ask anything. :p

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction?

I really don’t know. I’ve been writing creatively since I was like 6. I don’t really remember writing for fandom until Pokémon, but I’ve been in fandom since the original Sailor Moon and Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers.

 2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

I guess the Yogscast. Except I only really like a few of them, and it sure as shit isn’t the main channel people. I haven’t found a new obsession because I can’t sit still for tv anymore, and I’m a patient gamer/reader. So once I find something I like, it’s probably old and everyone’s already moved on.

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

OCs. I am boring, shy (and thus no fun), and quite good at ruining the moment.

 4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

Action/Adventure. Fight scenes. Getting out of dire as fuck situations. Underdogs.

 5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

I have so many… XP I guess a story I wrote in called Royal Infamy. It was literally hundreds of pages long, spanned at least 4 different fandoms, and could’ve been a standalone series if I just changed the names. Unfortunately it’s been lost to the ooooolllllddddd (and I mean 2001) internet. I like to think that maybe it’s on some ancient server, saved by those sorts of people who try to archive the entire internet and have literal exabytes of hoarded data. It was also how I met my SO of 13 years.

 6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

A Prince of Persia fic. I don’t even like Prince of Persia.

7) When is your preferred time to write?

I never get as much inspiration as when it’s 1am and I’m supposed to be going to bed like a normal person. But never at a normal hour in the evening unless I’m inspired at work and have to rush home before I forget.

 8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

It used to be from all the anime I used to watch, now it’s cobbled together from fantasy books and video games.

 9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

Like erotic fic? Eeeh. I’m so terrible at it that I literally only have one, I’m writing it right now, I’m not finished, and I don’t particularly like it because I keep subconsciously writing away from the part where they hold hands because I’m conflicted and discomforted by the whole thing, to be honest. Like, even when I was adolescent and supposed to be thirsty as teenagers are, I just wasn’t and couldn’t. My ex tried to get me to write something for him, and I still couldn’t do it. *shrug* It doesn’t help that I’ve never been big on shipping. …Those characters sure are standing next to each other, yep.

 10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind?

Hahah… endings. That’s good. (Also see previous question.)

 11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Not that I can recall, unless you count ‘stop doing that thing’, ‘okay’ *does it more*

 12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

Rythian. Fuckin’ edgelord. Just everything about him and his OC is *kisses fingers*.

 13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

Unfortunately Rythian is usually entangled with other people from the Yogscast. :p

 14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx?

Current project doesn’t even have a title, that’s how non-committed I am to it (she says even though it’s fast approaching a novelette.)

 15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

If it’s an OC of a particular universe, there’s probably a naming convention, and I go by many names. If it’s just generic freestanding story, I keysmash and pick through it until it rolls off the tongue.

 16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?

Classic ‘rivals who hide their sexual tension behind their distaste for one another.’

 17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

“I haven’t seen your face since when you first came back from The End. And the … incident with trying to rid you of your curse.” He chuckled. “I’ve actually seen a lot more than your scars.”

 18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Like 75% of my work is abandonware. I have ADHD, I get bored, and I usually take so long, the fandom “dies” before I can finish. And the moment is gone.

 19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

Royal Infamy. And make it mine this time.

 20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Probably Royal Infamy.

 21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Ilona Andrews. Her style is exactly what I aim for. …Okay maybe not the monster fucking, but the rest of it. Exciting, tense, a little bit scary.

 22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

The Prince of Persia fic. The first draft of the erofic. The weeb crack.

 23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Silence. My brain goes 100% towards analyzing music and then I can’t focus on anything else.

 24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Eeeeeeehhhhhh *whines* I don’t wanna…

 25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Nope. I don’t write that kind of pain.

 26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?

The part where these two people who’ve tried to murder each other could even reasonably be in each other’s presence, let alone fuck. Also eternal hatred for evasive genital description brought on by a broken, puritan society.

 27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

I should start making outlines. My current three projects keep going off the rails.

 28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

To go in with no expectations of people ever responding let alone giving feedback to anything. You’re just tossing shit in a hole and for every ton, one flower might grow.

 29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I did a thing about how Lalnable Hector created Echo, and *crickets*.

 30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Twenty years later, I still get emails about a fic I wrote about Birdy the Mighty (C-tier anime about a dead boy soul-sharing an intergalactic cop’s body.)

 31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)

-

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Other than putting slivers of wish fulfillment in, no.

 33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

Someone found a fic I wrote in two weeks in an archive over 20 years old and sent me kudos. Like, that shit should’ve been buried. But they found it.

 34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

Mary Sue. And you’re goddamn right she was. And I’ll fucking do it again.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

Nope, not for fear or anything, I just don’t think to share before it’s done because I’ll probably abandon it anyway.

 36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?

You’ll be unsatisfied with the ending.

 37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?

You fucking made me open one of my old Gundam Wing crack fics to check. Now I don’t know because I’m still cringing.

 38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.

*shrug* Like… I haven’t done a collab in *checks calendar* 17 years. I don’t have any live fandoms. I’m not big on trying to meld with other people’s styles.

 39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?

Third.

 40) Do people know you write fanfiction?

No.

 41) What’s your favourite minor character you’ve written?

Can’t think of one. I usually don’t have minor/background characters?

 42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.

…Okay, now I seriously can’t tell if xxx means erotic or a particular example. 😐 Anyway, I for some reason lost the ability to link songs to fics/personalities. I just don’t think of any particular person when I hear a song and vice-versa.

 43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?

That would imply enough people cared.

 44) What is the last line you wrote?

Despite the queen pushing him, he couldn’t move even if he wanted to (which he didn’t.)

 45) What spurs you on during the writing process?

If I don’t fucking do this it’s going to bother the fuck out of me for weeks, even if I don’t finish. Just get it on paper so it goes away.

 46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?

More action and intrigue.

 47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about?

 -

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

The antagonist finds the protagonist’s berserk button and realizes that maybe they should not have pushed it.

 49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

I can’t remember fics I wrote. And shit, that was at least 23 years ago. (She says even though she can perfectly remember her first fantasy novel 30 years ago. (The Gammage Cup))

 50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Angst. I think. I’ve gotten good feedback from my more serious stuff.

[chickyen]

Friends 8/21

-This is bad. I've had my share of bad reviews. I still remember my first good one, though: “Everything else in this production of Our Town was simply terrible. Joey Tribbiani was abysmal.”

-Oh, my God! Look at all the newspapers. It must be a good review. Is it great?

...Oh, dear God!

-But the good news is, no one in a two-block radius will ever know.

-What about the rest of Manhattan?

-They all know.

-This is horrible. I’m so humiliated.

-Yeah, but you know what they say, Mon, there is no such thing as bad press.

-You don’t think that umm, “The chef’s Mahi Mahi was awful awful,” is bad press?

-I didn’t write it.

-Hey, hey, Monica, you, listen to me, okay? I’m not just saying this because I’m your friend. I’m saying it ‘cause it’s the truth. Your food is abysmal!

Ross! I am freaking out!

-Are you?

-My due date is in one week!

-What are you doing up?

-That is 7 days.

-Ok, look. I had a lot of water before I went to bed. Can we do this after... ?

-Please, come on, we do not have any of the big stuff we need! We do not have a changing table!We do not have a crib! We do not have a diaper service.

-Oh, that’s funny you should mention diapers.

-I’m serious.

-There’s nothing to worry about. We have plenty of time. There’s a great baby furniture store on west 10th. Tomorrow we will go there and we will get you everything that you need. Okay?

-That’s great, thank you.

-I’m gonna go do that.

-Wait, Ross! I’m sorry, one more thing. Our situation, you know, what we mean to each other... and we’re having this baby together and we live together... isn’t that weird?

-Well, umm...

-I’m just kidding. You can go pee.

-How come you are not going?

-I can’t. I’ve got a job interview I have to get ready for.

-I thought you already have a job.

-And people say you don’t pay attention.

-No, this is a much better job. It’s Vice President of the company that does data reconfiguration and statistical factoring for other companies.

-Wow. How do you know how to do that?

-That’s what I do now.

-Joey! Come taste this.

-What is it?

-Remember the guy that gave me a bad review? Well... I’m getting my revenge.

-You cooked him?

-No. He teaches a course on food criticism at the New School, so before we go to the movies I wanna go by there and make him try my bouillabaisse again. 🏫

I can’t wait to read as the front page of the Post tomorrow: “Restaurant reviewer admit: I was wrong about Monica.”

-The front page? 📄 You really do live in your own little world, don’t you?

-Do you want these things delivered, Mr. and Mrs. Geller?

-Oh, no, we’re not married.

-We are having a baby together, but we’re not involved. I mean, we were seeing each other a while ago, but then we were just friends, and when there was one drunken night... Or, yes, stranger, we’d like this delivered, please.

-Why don’t you fill out this address card? -Oh, okay.

-I notice you picked out a lot of dinosaurs items. -Oh, yeah. Actually, that’s one of the reasons why we’re not a couple.

-I chose those. I’m a paleontologist.

-Really? That is so cool.

-Don’t get too worked up over it. It sounds like he’s a doctor, but he’s not.

-No. I’m fascinated by palaeontology.

-Oh, my God! Standing at a cash register, I’m holding a credit card, and I’m bored.

-Oh, I love your neighbourhood. There is a great gym right around the corner from your building.

-That’s my gym.

-I could tell you work out.

-Hey! How did baby shopping go?

-It was great! We got everything we needed. And Ross almost got something that wasn’t on the list. A whore. We were paying for our stuff, and this saleswoman just started flirting with him. Can you believe that?

-Did she know you two weren’t married?

-Yeah.

-Oh, my God! Well, the idea... A woman flirting with a single man? -We must alert the church elders.

-You don’t understand. You didn’t see how brazen she was.

-Sounds like you’re little jealous.

-No, I’m not. I just think it’s wrong. I mean, here i am, about to pop and he is out picking up some shopgirl at Sluts-R-Us?

-Is that a real place? Are they hiring?

-Hey, Chandler, why so fancy?

-Well, I got a job interview. It’s kinda a big deal too. It’s a lot more money.

-I think I know someone who does that.

-Me. I do that.

-So, seriously, do I look okay? I’m a little nervous.

-Oh, yeah. You really look great. You know, just don’t get your hopes up. You don’t make a very good first impression. When I first met you you were like: Blah blah blah. I was like: shh. 🤫

-What is it that I do?

-Well, it’s just like you are trying so hard, always making jokes. You just come off a little needy.

-Did you like me when we first met, Rach?

-Chandler, i’m not gonna lie to you. But I am gonna run away from you.

-I can’t even believe this. I really come off that badly?

-It’s ok. You calm down after a while and then people can see how really sweet and wonderful you really are.

-Good. Because I’m sure this interview will last couple a weeks.

-All right, don’t freak out, okay? I will help you. How long before you have to leave?

-An hour.

-I can’t help you.

-Alright, alright, we’ll just do our best. So let’s say that I am the interviewer and I’m meeting you for the first time.

Oh, Bing. What an unusual name.

-Wow. You should meet my uncle Bada.

-I’ll let myself out.

I think you’ll find if I come to work here I don’t micromanage. I don’t shy away from delegating

-That’s good to know. But let’s stop focusing on what you don’t do and focus on what you do do.

-What i do do is manage to create an atmosphere of support for the people working with me.

-I see. Nice sidestep on the “do do” thing, by the way.

-Hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

-Ok, don’t worry. You’re ready.

-Really?

-Absolutely! Just fight all your natural instincts and you’ll be great.

-All right then. We’ll have a definite answer for you on Monday. But I think I can say with some confidence, you’ll fit in well here. You can relax. You did great.

-I gotta say thank you, I was really nervous. You know I’ve been told I come on too strong, make too many jokes. It was really hard to sidestep that “duty” thing.

Duties?..

Doodies?..

Poo?..

Oh, my God. This doesn’t count. Okay? The interview was over. I’ll look forward to your call.

-I think the things that you said about me a really unfair and I would like for you to give my bouillabaisse another chance.

-I don’t see any reason why would do that to myself again.

-Either eat it or be in it.

-I’m torn between my integrity and my desire to avoid a beating. But I must be honest. Your soup is abysmal.

-Thatta girl! 🙌🏻😄

-Your Fettuccini Alfredo looks a little dry, did you use all your cheese?

-When you say “use”, do you mean “eat as a pre-cooking snack”?

-And the cream?

-Cheese makes me thirsty.

-Okay. Let’s move on.

-All right.

-Something smells good over at Monica’s station. This is absolutely amazing! You’ve never made this before? Hats off to the chef. 👒 🎩

-I’m sorry, your mouth was full, I didn’t hear what you said.

-Monica, my star student.

-All the stuff takes up a lot of room. How serious are you about keeping Ben in your life?

-My son? Pretty serious.

-The delivery went out to you and I realise they forgot this.

-Must been fairly obvious, since it was the only thing left in your store.

-Listen, to be honest, Home deliveries aren’t really part of my job description. I, actually, came here to ask you out.

-Oh. Wow. Yeah, sounds great! Actually, I’m free now. You wanna grab some coffee?

-Sure.

-Horny bitch.

-I’m just gonna grab my coat. My whip. You know, because of Indiana Jones. Not because I’m into S & M. I’m not into anything weird, you know?

-So, you had a good day, huh? Big commission, picked up a daddy. And you look fantastic. Although you missed a button.

-Oh, actually, i...

-Oh, okay, i see what you’re doing there.

-Katie bothered me.

-Why? What was wrong with her?

-There was nothing wrong with her, all right? She was perfectly lovely.

-So, what’s the matter?

-I don’t want you to date her.

-Why? What? Are you jealous?

-Yes! And not because I want you to go out with me. Because I don’t want you to go out with anybody. I know it’s a terrible thing to even think this and it’s completely inappropriate but I want you to be at my constant beck and call 24 hours a day. ☎️ I’m very sorry, but that is just the way that I feel.

-Ok, I won’t date. I’ll be here with you all the time.

-Really? But I’m being so unreasonable.

-True, but you’re allowed to be unreasonable. You’re having our baby.

-Oh, Ross, thank you.

-You feel better?

-No, not really. You’re pressing the baby into my bladder and I have to pee.

-Okay, Rach. Just one thing... We live together. You’re having our baby. I’m not gonna see anybody else. Are you sure you don’t want something more?

-Wow. I don’t know, maybe...

-Oh, umm, Rach, i was just messing around. Like you did last night when i had to pee?

-I knew that! I was just messing with you too!

-Okay. Because for a minute you seemed like you actually...

-No, no, no, no, that’s just because I’m such a good messer!

-Rach?

-Yeah?

-The bathroom?

-Right.

[empressdrega27]

Mechanical Cuddle-Bug

This is the long awaited one-shot requested by @startreklife. I had started writing it earlier, but my computer crashed and I lost all of my progress. Anyways, the prompt for this is, A cute scenario with Data cuddling the reader! Kinda long so it’s under the cut.

 *Yawn* Wow, was that really the time? You must have really been in the zone, though that tended to happen when it came to your work. You were a science officer aboard the U.S.S Enterprise, specifically, you were the ship’s xeno-zoologist. It was your job to document and study the fauna of the various planets that the Enterprise visited. You loved your job and you took it very seriously, after all, if the away team found a strange animal, you were the one who would know how much of a threat it would pose. Currently, you had been taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity. Recently, a freighter headed to the Esperudine system was found to be smuggling goods to various buyers, one of the “goods” happened to be a Cardassian riding hound. Apparently an adventurous Ferengi businessman had taken a liking to them, and wanted one of his own.

 Everyone on the ship knew of the Cardassians, but very few had ever heard of any Cardassian animal species. Though, knowing the hound was native to Cardassia was enough of a reason for many that the beast was too dangerous to stay aboard the Enterprise. You strongly disagreed. Your boyfriend Lt. Commander Data, also disagreed. You and Data could tell that the hound was only a juvenile, it wasn’t fully grown. You could also tell that the creature was starving, it was unlikely that it would be dangerous, once it was fed. Still, your opinion went unnoticed. So Data suggested you go directly to the captain.

 Captain Picard trusted you. He trusted you as much as he trusted any of his senior officers, because without you, a lot of his crew would be dead. You knew so much about animals and their behavior, and you were an invaluable member of the crew. You were also very important to Data, and the captain enjoyed seeing Data experiencing more of humanity through you. You figured that Captain Picard would be on the bridge, so that’s where you went. As soon as the turbo lift doors opened you marched onto the bridge. You were a bit nervous, so you looked for Data at the helm. He turned and looked at you as you walked toward the captain. He could tell that you were nervous, so he decided to try a human method of reassurance; he winked at you. Well, it wasn’t quite a wink, it was more of a stiff half-blink, but you appreciated the thought nonetheless. You approached the captain, but he spoke before you could.

“Lieutenant L/n, I thought I’d be seeing you today. You wish to protest the decision to put the Cardassian riding hound to sleep, I presume?”

“Yes sir. I have several reasons why killing the hound would be a mistake”, you affirmed. 

“Well, let’s hear them”.

As you explained the various reasons to Captain Picard, Data watched you as you spoke with such clarity and with such authority and intelligence, that he couldn’t help but feel very proud of you. Only Counselor Troi noticed the fond smile on Data’s face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 As it turned out, Captain Picard had never planned to put the hound to sleep. He too agreed that studying an animal native to Cardassia would be an opportunity that was too important to pass up. So, you started to work. You were having a great time studying the massive beast; it looked like a reptile, but it behaved much like a large puppy! It was rather cute. At least, you thought it was cute, Data didn’t. He couldn’t understand how you didn’t  see the danger that the creature posed to you. You were in the makeshift pen that had been set up to house the hound, taking measurements while he (with Data’s help you determined that hound was a male) ate. You were startled out of your zone by Data’s com badge, it was the captain ordering Data to report to his post.

“I am needed on the bridge Y/n”, Data informed you.

You stood up and stretched, “Yeah, I heard. It’s a shame, but you’re needed elsewhere.”

You went to grab a new tool and noticed that Data hadn’t left.

“You know the captain hates it when anyone’s late, you’d better get a move on.”

Data seemed...conflicted about something. You hopped out of the enclosure and made your way over to him. You wrapped your arms around him and asked,

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I am concerned for your safety. If I leave, the beast may attack you. I do not know what to do.” 

Aww, he was worried about you! Well, as worried as an android could be anyway. 

“Data, I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine! This”, You gestured to the hound, “is nothing. When I was an ensign, I went to Vulcan to study sehlats. We went into the mountains and we were attacked by a pack of le-matyas. One of my classmates died, and the others abandoned me. I managed to get into a cave and waited for the le-matyas to get bored. That was my first real look into xeno-zoology. I knew right then that I had to learn everything I could about every animal I encountered. Do you know why I knew that Data?”

Data replied, “No. I do not. Why?”

You smiled and answered, “Because nobody else knows. I was the youngest student, and only I knew that le-matyas are poisonous. I knew that le-matyas are impatient. I knew what was in those mountains, and I knew the risk. I still know the risks in my job, just like you know the risks of yours. I’ll be fine, trust me”.

You gave him a quick kiss and said, “Now go, before they send someone to find you!”

“I will see you later. Be careful Y/n. I love you.”

You stood shocked for a moment, that was the first time Data said he loved you outside of your quarters.

A huge grin adorned your face, “I love you too, and I promise I will.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 It was late. Time to stop working. You’d made incredible progress and you were really proud of yourself. And for the most part, you kept your promise to Data. Unfortunately, you did get a few scrapes and bruises. It was inevitable though. After being hungry for so long, the hound was so happy to be fed that he spent a solid 10 minutes nuzzling into your side and licking you. It was really sweet, but he was still a 5 foot tall 1000 pound reptile.

 When you got to your quarters, you were surprised to find that Data was already there waiting for you. He was fluffing your pillows. 

“Ah, You are here. I was waiting for you. I know that you have had a very long day, so I thought you would enjoy my company”, Data said when he saw you.

“You thought right. I could definitely use some company, especially company as good looking as you.” You wiggled your eyebrows.

“Is this the human custom of ‘flirting’?”

“Yep, you can tell by the eyebrow wiggle”, you said as you collapsed on your bed. You groaned, your joints felt like they were on fire. You closed your eyes and rested for a moment. As you laid there, you felt the bed dip with the weight of another person. You opened your eyes to see Data sitting on the bed.

“Do you need anything? A drink, a food item perhaps?”, Data inquired.

“Nah, I’m not hungry or thirsty. Thanks for asking though”, you replied.

Data sat still for a moment, he was thinking about something. Finally, he looked at you and asked,

“Would you like to cuddle?”

Your eyes shot open and you stared incredulously at him. Data had never asked to cuddle before, but it did sound really nice.

“I’d love to cuddle with you Data”, you replied.

You scooched over to give Data enough room to lay down. When there was enough space, he stretched out beside you. 

“What should I do now Y/n?”

“Just lay the way you are right now, I’ll come to you”.

You slid over a bit and wrapped your arms around him,

“Okay, now you put your arms around me”, you explained.

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around you. You shifted slightly so you could rest your head on his chest. When you got comfortable, you sighed contentedly.

“This is nice Data. We should do this more often.”

“I agree. I am enjoying the experience”.

You chuckled and replied, “Me too.”

Together you both laid, content and happy. You felt like you had finally found the one person who you belonged with. You smiled to yourself. You shifted a bit and yawned. Data heard and said,

“If you are tired, you may go to sleep. I do not mind.”

You yawned again and said, “You mean you’d be okay with staying here with me, all night?”

“Of course darling”.

You smiled, that was his favorite pet name for you.

“Okay. Good night Data”, You gave him a kiss before snuggling closer to him. You were asleep in minutes. Data watched the steady rise and fall of your breathing, and smiled. He never thought that anyone would love him as much as you did. He never thought anyone would love him at all, but here you were. He knew that he had no emotions, but as he looked at your face, and how serene and beautiful you were, he felt something. A sensation in his chest. Was it... love? Data couldn’t say, but what he did know was this; even if he had no emotions, he knew he loved you somehow. Maybe someday he’d be able to feel love the way you did, but until then, he’d watch over you and keep you safe. As Data initiated his dream program, one final thought crossed his mind, cuddling was great, especially with you.

[journey4theseason]

Do You Know What Your Body Is Saying - Really? You Sure?

Physical Wellness is much more than losing weight When the term physical wellness is mentioned, most people think of dieting and losing weight. If part of your plan for physical wellness involves losing weight, don’t simply go on a diet. As we all know, if we are being honest, diets don’t work. We know that when it comes to diets, no one size fits all. But as soon as a new fad diet hits the market, we are out the door and to the store or on the computer ordering. If you cannot live on this “newest plan” forever, or let’s say it works for a bit, but the first time you eat normal food, you learn it was all in vain, then that diet is not right for you. Physical wellness is more than losing weight. It involves changing aspects of life that are necessary to keep yourself in top condition. Your body has been telling you how it feels your entire life! But are you listening? Sure, you grew up hearing your body tell you when it’s hungry or thirsty, tired or energetic. You and your body are together all the time. Let’s maximize this close relationship and use it to better understand the true meaning of physical wellness. Physical wellness is concerned with developing a personal responsibility for your own health care, such as caring for minor illnesses and recognizing when professional medical attention is needed. Developing physical wellness empowers you to monitor your own vital signs and understand your body’s warning signs. You’ll understand and appreciate the relationship between sound nutrition and how your body performs. The physical benefits of looking good and feeling terrific most often lead to the psychological benefits of enhanced self-esteem, self-control, determination, and a sense of direction. Physical wellness is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows you to get the most out of your daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. Physical wellness means living responsibly and taking care of your body and recognizing that your daily habits and behaviors have a significant impact on your overall health, wellness, and quality of life. Adopting healthful habits (e.g., a balanced diet, regular physical activity, adequate sleep, and routine health checks) while avoiding destructive habits (e.g., tobacco, drugs, and alcohol) will lead to optimal physical wellness and reduced risk of preventable chronic illness. Our Path to Physical Wellness At the end of this time together, I want you to feel in control of your physical wellness—all components of it. And I know many aspects of physical wellness would be better for many people if we took off some weight. Although this certainly is not a weight loss plan, we will spend time addressing weight loss, because weight is a contributing factor to many areas of health deficiencies. Even in this modern era, many of us are remarkably ill informed and amazingly apathetic about the foods we eat. We know every excuse in the book to justify what we eat. The results are a society in which too many of us are overweight, many to the point of obesity and not to mention all the part of life you may miss because of low energy and low self-esteem. According to 2016 data, adult obesity rates now exceed 35 percent in four states, 30 percent in 25 states, and above 20 percent in all states. Even with these startling numbers, I can’t emphasize enough that dieting is not the answer. A study that examined the results of popular diets concluded that nearly 100 percent of dieters suffered almost “complete relapse after 3–5 years.” So, if you need to lose weight, don’t start dieting; change your lifestyle. Should we count every calorie that we put into our mouth for the rest of our lives? Hopefully not. I truly pray not. It has been my experience that when we focus too intently on weight reduction, we make weight loss even harder to achieve. Instead, we should eliminate from our diets the foods that obviously are bad for us and we should eat more of the foods that obviously are good for us. And of course, we should eat sensible amounts, not super-size portions. As informed adults, we have access to all the information that we need to make healthy dietary choices. In the grocery store, almost every food item is clearly marked. In restaurants, fast food and sit down, nutrition information should be posted. The key point is to read the nutrition information before buying food or ordering a meal and certainly BEFORE putting it into your mouth. It is up to each of us to make wise dietary choices because we pay the consequences. I wish I could honestly tell you that from here on out you will experience nothing but success along your path to physical wellness. Temptation is a frequent visitor in our lives, and we will have to discipline our emotions, our moods, and our mouths, so that we remain stable and calm, and peaceful—regardless of our situation or circumstances. Now that we have established physical wellness is more than just weight loss, what else is there? And how do we start down this path toward physical wellness? Physical wellness is not a destination; it is a journey. We cannot get in peak physical shape and feel totally healthy one day and then do nothing the next day to maintain that state of health. We do, however, need to find out where we are today—that is, where is our base so that we know where we are headed on this journey. Physical Wellness Assessment Indicate yes or no for each of the following statements: ____ I know important health numbers, like my cholesterol,  weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. ____ I get annual physical exams. ____ I listen to my body; when there is something wrong, I seek professional advice. ____ I maintain a desirable weight for my body type. ____ I avoid using tobacco products and do not consume more than three alcoholic beverages per week. ____ I get a sufficient amount of sleep for my age (seven to eight hours). ____ I have an established exercise routine. ____ I protect my skin from sun damage by using sunscreen, wearing hats, and/or avoiding tanning booths and sunlamps. ____ I protect myself and others from getting ill (wash my hands, cover my mouth and nose when I cough, etc.). ____ I eat at least five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily and drink water regularly. IDENTIFY MY GOAL AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Now is the time to begin defining and planning your goals to start your journey based largely in part on the results of this Physical Wellness Assessment. Remember these are your goals. No goals are one size fits all. What your body needs is not what your best friend’s body needs. It is also the first step/week, and it is okay to change your goals as you continue along this journey and learn more about yourself. I found focusing on the social (17/40), emotional (23/40), intellectual (25/40) have actually had a positive influence on my physical (29/40) already. 1. The goal I want to achieve is: 2. I want to achieve this goal because: 3. Achieving this goal will change my life in the following positive ways: 4. Achieving this goal will change my life in the following negative ways: 5. I am ready to face all the changes that accomplishing this goal will mean for me. I can lessen the negative impact that this change will have in my life by: 6. I will be happier if I achieve my goal because: OUTLINE: WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO UNDERSTAND PHYSICAL WELLNESS What steps do you need to complete to ensure your success in the action steps above? List below, the most important things or subgoals you need to accomplish to achieve your primary goal. (Each subgoal may have smaller steps within them.) STEPS TO BE COMPLETED 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Physical Wellness continues in our next blog..... Click Subscribe to join our email list and get your free Lifestyle Assessment for all seven dimensions that make up life.... Read the full article